Avalice Chronicles Volume 3
by Ultrablockstar
Summary: Milla, Kai, Norah and Chan is sent to an important mission to Shang Tu, but when the Red Scarves interferes, they soon discover disturbing secrets behind the guild of thieves and assassins. (Original Characters belong to their respective owners)
1. The Future of Avalice

**-1-**

 _Edited by Etherdrone_

The nice, clear autumn morning painted the skies once again at the grand city of Shang Mu.

A siberian husky wearing a black jacket, black jeans, a white t-shirt and black boots, equipped with dual pistols and a sniper rifle made mention to visibly demonstrate his displeasure as he was carrying a crate of supplies with the assistance of a fox wearing a white cargo jacket with orange outlines, beige cargo pants, a black close-fit t-shirt and brown shoes, equipped with a large steel blade with a black handle.

The husky huffs in irritation as he makes a short sigh before speaking, "Care to explain to me why we're doing this?"

"You don't remember?" the fox asks with a joyful tone, making the husky scowl in response. "We agreed to help Mayor Zao with some errands while Milla and Norah gets some groceries!"

"You know I never agreed to this."

"What, you'd rather mope in a corner somewhere for the rest of your days?" Chan the fox laughs as Kai brakes any semblance of eye contact.

"No. I'd rather not carry crates at all."

"That's fair enough, I suppose. Look at it this way, then: at least you have something to do this afternoon! You won't get bored!"

Kai responds with a louder, more agitated sigh as the two boys finally reach Shang Mu City Hall and transport the cargo into the building's storage unit. Through the corner of his eye, Kai observes the Shang Mu soldiers in-duty who were mostly women wearing the standard Shang Mu uniform: red armor, each equipped with an energy pistol and dagger.

As they land the crate into the designated area, a couple of the soldiers came to secure the shipment, some carrying clipboards to make sure everything was in order. Kai takes a moment to scratch the back of his own ear as his eyes focuses at the crates, once again.

 _I wonder what's in them. If this much security is needed around the cargo, I assume it's something expensive..._

 _Perhaps I should have stolen what was in those crates. It's not like Shang Mu would miss wealth, right?_

He shakes his head, dismissively.

 _Yet despite me being with the Red Scarves for five years, Norah is a far better thief and liar than me. Still a bit rusty, though. I can tell when she's trying to steal something from me…_

 _Doesn't feel as good as using this rifle, though._

"...I wonder what's in those crates," Chan states, as he reads the husky's expression. "Look at all the security."

Kai takes notice of the vulpine's sudden comment. "Don't you have anyone else to bother?"

"Not really. Though I assumed you were as curious as I was."

"I can't argue with that, but I personally don't care." Trying to take the topic of conversation away from himself, Kai quickly adds: "What's taking those girls so long?"

"If you're curious, that means you care," Chan chuckles as Kai grits his teeth, annoyed. "To answer your question, though, they are doing what girls do, I'm sure. Either way, I'm going to ask one of those soldiers what's in those crates."

"You honestly expect them to answer you?" Kai asks with a raised eyebrow, making Chan open a big smile and laugh jovially.

"Hahah! Don't you worry, I'll be sure to ask them _politely_!"

"... _Politely_." Kai repeats, pondering on what Chan meant as the fox casually walks up to one of the soldiers, as if he lived around them for ages.

"Excuse me, beautiful battle-maiden, but I find myself wondering: what is in those crates, after all?"

"Sorry but that information is confide-" The soldier starts, but soon found her voice stopping as her mind processed the way she was addressed. "Ahem. Did you call me a..."

"A battle-maiden of most brilliant beauty, yes! Brave and heroic, I can tell by the shine in your eyes."

"Oh, please," the girl giggles in embarrassment as her co-workers slowly giggles to themselves, all jovially stricken by Chan's disturbingly effective charms. "I-I mean, I'm not..."

"But you are! To have such an important job as to protect us citizens and our great leader, in such a young age too." Chan compliments with honest charisma, now changing her disposition for the better.

"U-um... Thanks?" She quietly fumbled as her co-workers were enjoying the scene far more than they probably should.

"I merely speak the truth, milady," he cordially bows as he had suddenly become the center of the girls' attention. "I apologize, however, if my question was uncouth. Curiosity is a trait that runs strong in my family, you see."

"T-That's okay. I mean... um, I guess I can make… a small exception? Don't tell anyone, though!" The guard explains flustered while attempting to maintain her stern tone to avoid suspicion as the other guards backs away, obviously curious. She then whispers into the vulpine's ear so the other soldiers won't hear.

Kai's eyes were swimming in disbelief at the view, carrying amazement and disgust with them.

 _These are the least ethical guards I've ever seen…_

 _Either that, or Chan is a damn good flirt… I'm betting on the former._

"It was nothing special. Just tax money and apparently a lot of imported silk." Chan reveals as he returns to Kai's side, stuffing a small piece of paper inside a pocket, with a bunch of numbers scribbled on it.

"Silk? You sure that silk isn't for Ming?"

"Yes it is, you should try feeling that nice soothing texture someday!" Ming proclaims with a loud voice, overhearing the youth's discussion, drawing their attention to her.

"What are you doing here? I wouldn't even conceive that the likes of you would ever step foot in a place like this." Kai retorts, making Ming dismiss his claim with a wave of her hand.

"Very clever of you, dog-boy. I'm here to make sure my rare silk isn't damaged; it's not easy to make this kind of material, you know!" The panda explains as she caresses a piece of her dress.

"Oh yeah, so difficult. I'm sure making silk is such a herculean feat, gathering silk worms' webs and weaving it with a machine... Wow, that is _so_ hard!" the husky counters in a sarcastic tone, making Chan shake his head, away from everyone's eyes.

Though the panda seems to completely ignore the canine's remark, she storms into the storage room, venting most of her anger towards the soldiers, who panic and fret upon finally seeing Ming's presence in the complex. Kai opens a subtle smile as he crosses his arms.

"Huh. You'd think she's angry." Kai asks.

"You'd do that? I'm sure of it," Chan laughs as Kai clacks his tongue, annoyed. "Don't worry. She'll forget all about this as soon as something else piques her interest."

The husky then, immediately, goes back to his own thoughts. _I'll give this guy the credit he deserves, he's good at reading people. I'm sure he'll make a great lie detector._

* * *

Over at the Shang Mu supermarket, Milla and Norah were collecting an arrangement of fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins as both girls began giggling as they told each other about their adventures since the incident at Relic Maze three years ago.

"Wait, you had an imaginary friend called Mr. Stumpy?!" Norah teases, a panda girl who wore a dark purple sleeveless top and skirt with gold outlines, mauve boots and two bracelets with red gemstones which were used for energy manipulation.

Milla face turns red in embarrassment, lowering her head a little. She was a basset hound who wore a beige crop top, beige pants, beige tank top, brown gloves with arrow-like symbols asymmetrically colored with her anklets and equipped with a short sword with a green handle made from the same material as her anklets. "Well, I was… I was going through a phase!" she argues.

"Oh, you were! I can tell you definitely were!"

Milla simply pouts at Norah for a while before she finally stops laughing as hard. "Hahah! Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought it was funny! I didn't mean to tease."

 _...It's really good to see her laugh again._

"It's alright," Milla says with a smile. "So, what does that mark on you shoulder mean?"

Norah blinked as she looks at the chinese character on her right shoulder. "This thing? It means 'Fire'."

"Hmm. Is it because you're a fire mage?"

"I guess it is?" Norah fumbles on her own words as she pats the symbol a little. "Vix always told me that this symbol is special and that it's suppose to represent your character or something."

"Well you can be hot-headed sometimes." Milla chuckles, having Norah respond by lightly shoving the hound to the side.

"Hey! I've mellowed."

Milla's skeptical expression made the panda roll her eyes away from the hound's. With a small chuckle from Milla, however, the conversation comes to a close.

"Alright," she says with a more decisive tone. "So, I think this is it? We should head back to the city hall, it's about noon and I would really like to eat lunch soon."

Norah nods in agreement as the girls pay for the groceries and began walking to the Shang Mu City Hall.

When Milla and Norah arrive at the city hall with several grocery bags wrapped around their arms, they enter the kitchen and place down the groceries on the countertop. Almost as if the decision was made by a single mind, the two girls decide to make sandwiches for themselves and their companions. When the girls finish eating their share of the lunch they ask one of the soldiers about Kai and Chan's whereabouts. The helpful soldier informs them that the husky and fox went into the airship docking bay on box-carrying duty. The hound and panda then enters the station and sees Mayor Zao yelling in an exasperated tone at the airship's backside, much to the discomfort of out-of-context sensitivity.

"What do you mean it's unrepairable?!" he barks with authority that fell on all of the world's deaf ears.

Kai then emerges from the airship's engine room, half-covered in dust and soot. "I mean exactly what I said, it's impossible! Care to explain to me what in the ancient's name were you doing with this airship? The engines are so badly damaged that not even I can repair it."

"What was I doing, he asks. That's none of your beeswax!"

"...It's _your_ airship."

"Exactly! That airship was going to take you and your friends to Shang Tu!"

"Wait, WHAT?!" Norah and Milla speak in unison in an outraged tone, finally signaling their presence.

Just as it was, the engine then immediately spurted a pathetic puff of smoke that rose solitary to the ceiling, another failed attempt to make this piece of machinery function, Kai shakes his head in disbelief.

"This piece of junk can't even take a hint to the cemetery. Get rid of it already."

Chan, then, exits the engine room soon after coughing from the exhaust, followed by another puff of smoke that did not even phase his composure. "Hey, so I found all these empty glass bottles in the exhaust port." the vulpine informs, holding an empty bottle on his hand. "What were they even doing there?"

"How s-should I k-know." Zao mumbles to himself, getting more and more irritated at the youths before him.

"...For as much as curiosity compels you to know, I'd rather counsel you all on not finding out." Dail retorts with impatience as he finally walks into the station, drawing more of the ire from the miniature leader.

"Are you implying something, Dail?! If you want to say something, say so right to my face!"

"Zao. I don't care enough about your personal life to comment further on any of it."

"Hm. It's a shame, really. I believe my life will make a great autobiography one day."

"I'm sure it'll be a bestseller. In your own house."

Zao remains silent, gritting his teeth at Dail's commentary. Just as soon as it all ended, Tuanjie enters the docking bay with quick steps, clearly on par with all the information needed. "I hope you children won't mind walking to Shang Tu," the bobcat asks. "Sadly, that's how it will have to be done."

"Of course not!" Milla reassures with much optimism. "It's been so long since I took the scenic route! That will be fun!"

"I don't mind walking, either! Besides, this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about my new friends." Chan reasons with a smile, making Norah and Kai shrug their shoulders with indifference.

"Well then, I suppose they won't need your assistance, Mayor Zao."

Zao grumbles to himself in response as he exits the docking station. Dail, then, with a courteous bow of his own, also leaves the youths behind him.

"I want you to explain everything to the Royal Magister when you reach Shang Tu, but I also want you to give him this." Tuanjie hands Milla a small square chip. The hound tilts her head in confusion as the other youths looks over her shoulders to glimpse the small object.

"That looks like some kind of computer chip. I don't recognize the design," Kai observes. "What on Avalice is this?"

"It's a very important item. I can't give you the details yet, however rest assured it will be very important for Avalice's future."

The youths nod in response, all with different levels of enthusiasm.

"I think it's best you children start leaving the city. Thankfully, it seems the chaos that Milla's appearance caused have finally atrophied."

"Yeah, I noticed. It feels so nice for things to return to normal now." Milla makes an exaggerated breath in relief.

"Yeah it's nice that we don't have to worry about your rabid fangirls." Norah responds, making Milla blush and grimace.

"I'm not sure what's so bad about them, personally," Chan adds, launching a quick, friendly wink at the hound. "So, I guess we should start heading over to Shang Tu, then?"

Tuanjie nods. "Fair travels," the bobcat says, later leaving the youths to themselves.

"...Okay. Should we say our goodbyes?" Milla asks.

"Not needed. I think it's best we just leave now." Kai reasons as he steadily watches the bobcat exit the area.

 _This guy. There's something about this guy…_

 _What's with this chip? What the hell is this thing? I've never seen this kind of technology, not even from the remains of Brevon's robot soldiers._

 _He definitely knows more than he's letting on. ...I suppose we should just leave now, but why does he wants us to leave so suddenly?_

 _What does he mean by "Avalice's future"?_


	2. Inner Conflicts

**-2-**

In the dense bamboo forests of Jade Creek; Milla, Kai, Norah, and Chan decides to camp out by the river bank, after about a week of traveling. The youths, excluding Kai, were astonished by the exaggeratedly tall and thick bamboo trees which covered most of the land.

The basset hound looks above her in an attempt to determine the time, however she's barely able to see the sun past the thick bamboo forest. After a few more seconds Milla was able to determine it was approaching noon, she then grabs some fruit and offers some to her peers, "It's about lunch time, any of you guys want something to eat?" the hound offers.

Chan casually takes an apple and begins to eat it as he looks through his surroundings "I've never seen bamboo this massive!" he observes.

"I know, right? I knew Jade Creek was known for its plant life and large bodies of water, but this? This is so amazing and beautiful!" Norah adds.

"Just the work of fertile soil and humid atmosphere." Kai informs, in a uninterested tone which annoys the panda girl.

"You know I never noticed how big these trees are… I was busy being chased down by the police." The hound quickly speaks in an attempt to dominate the husky's rude behavior.

"I remember hearing something about how you and your friends busted out of the Shang Tu Palace." The fox references.

"To be fair, it isn't _that_ hard to break out of prison." Kai retorts.

"Psh, you make it sound like you've broken out of prison yourself!" Norah counters.

"I might not have broken out of a prison before but I've seen many Red Scarves successfully escape. You know what? I don't think I've ever been arrested before Zhōngyāng." The husky gestures with a quick stare at Milla, the expression made the hound frown.

"Oh look a technician who never been arrested, you're _so_ special… get real! I hope you're not blaming that on Milla!" Norah takes notice of Kai's expression towards Milla, which makes her scowl at the husky.

The panda and husky began to argue violently, which disturbs the observing hound girl, "Can you two stop arguing for once!" Milla scalds in an agitated, passive-aggressive tone, _I don't need to deal with Norah and Kai's arguing here of all places… I don't want to be reminded of what happened here._

Chan notices the hound's disturbed tone and attempts to comfort her, "Hey it's alright, friends argue. I think you should know that after what you told me about you and Norah, and I'm sure even Lilac and Carol had their fair share of arguments, right?"

Milla relaxes for a moment and briefly thanks the vulpine, Kai remains silent.

"Sorry." Norah wryly responds before she makes a deep breath, in an attempt to calm herself, however it was in vain; the panda girl resumes to addressing the husky, "Anyways… I have a question for you, Kai."

"Is that so?" Kai was intrigued by what the panda girl could possibly ask him.

"So… " Norah obviously felt uncomfortable, "Do you know a Red Scarf called Spade?" the panda girl asks remembering when she left the Shang Mu City Hall, Dail had informed her about his brothers association with the guild of assassins and that he was now referred to as 'Spade'.

The question left the other youths petrified as the husky then makes a discrete smirk, "I've met him, he's not exactly the most 'likeable' person.", the canine beckons.

Norah remains silent, the husky's opening response made her uneasy.

"Besides who doesn't know Spade? He can also be hardheaded and irrational."

The panda girl began to clench her teeth and fists, both Milla and Chan began to realize what the husky was doing.

Kai snaps his tongue at the very thought of the infamous cavy, "Ironic how he used to be royalty, he may have given up being a prince but he's still as obnoxious as one." the husky scowls.

Immediately Norah jabs the husky directly at his face, "You don't know what you're talking about!" she angrily screams, the observing hound and fox are caught by surprise by the panda's sudden movement.

The husky only responds with an equally as angry expression; the assault ,although obviously painful, did not phase the husky's demeanor, "Hmph, seems I pushed a nerve, care to explain what the hell did I say to deserve that?!" he sarcastically counters.

"Norah, what was that about?!" Milla demands, "I know you guys don't get along but you didn't have to hurt him!"

"I don't understand why you're even defending him! it's not like he actually cares!" Norah snarls.

"You're right, I don't. Thankfully for you though, after Shang Tu I'll be leaving, then you can rejoice." Kai retorts.

"I think you do care, but you don't like to admit it." Chan adds in a calm tone.

"You think you have us all figured out after knowing us for _only_ a week, huh?"

"Of course not, but I can tell when you do care for your friends…"

"Allies."

Chan dismisses the husky simply by closing his eyes in mild disappointment.

"Milla please tell me you're hearing this! They can't possibly be serious?!" Norah argues, focusing her attention towards the quiet basset hound as Kai and Chan brakes any eye contact.

Milla remains silent for a few more minutes as the other youths wait for a response, the silence made her apprehensive, the hound finally speaks, "I already told him he can do whatever he wants after Shang Tu, besides the Red Scarves base is there… so it doesn't matter."

Kai maintains his positive expression before returning to his monotonous self, "I'm going to take a short walk, I'll be back in an hour."

Norah remains defeated and baffled by the hound's compliance, the thought bothered her like an unbearable itch, she was not pleased with how the conversation concluded.

"The heroine have spoken." Chan concludes with a wry tone.

"Don't make it sound like I'm some leader, I don't like it when my friends argue… I know it's natural, but still dislike it!"

"So you do see Kai as a friend?"

Milla ponders a moment, "He may not see me as a friend, but at least I see him as one."

"That's not how friendship work." Norah interrupts in a dry tone.

"I don't see anything wrong with that logic." Chan reasons.

"Of course you wouldn't."

"There's nothing wrong with having optimism."

"I don't disagree but there's such thing as too much optimism."

"Well if that is what you believe, then who am I to change your ideals?"

* * *

It was midnight, the majestic lights of the avalician night sky shines over the gleaming surfaces of water scattered throughout the creek. At a secluded waterfall, only about a quarter mile from the campsite where three of the youths were sleeping, Milla was bathing. It was cold, however the scent of the naturally running fresh water relaxed Milla, using soap berries she found about ten minutes ago, she enters the spring and began cleaning herself, as she stood by the freezing waterfall she reflects, _These nightmare are getting worse, I'm starting to get them every day now, and it's starting to get really hard trying to hide this from Kai, Norah and Chan._

The hound feels a unpleasant sensation on her chest that was familiar to her.

 _This feeling, the last time I felt this, before I met Norah again at Zhōngyāng, was one night at the Dōng mén Dojo: I had less control back then, I think there was something I was very angry about that day, I'm usually calm but I felt this feeling on my chest and then I suddenly went into a rage. The thing is that when Zhao calmed me and explained what happened, that my eyes…_

 _...My eyes… they were crimson…_

 _After that, I agreed to tell him what happened to me two years ago, I expected him to see me as some kind of monster, or maybe a girl who had lost her humanity, but instead he was so kind… maybe he felt pity for me or maybe he really wanted to help me._

 _I don't want Kai, Chan and especially Norah to ever find out about this virus, I don't want to make them worry… I've already made Lilac and Carol worry about me, and they sacrificed everything for me and I can't even repay them!_

The sensation have diminished once Milla had finished her reminiscence, she began to ponder about the Red Scarves.

 _I know Kai really cares, then again I still think Spade cares too, I don't think the Red Scarves are that bad, they still have lives even though they're criminals. Lilac and Carol, they were Red Scarves… that fox and hare Lilac helped, they seemed nice enough and they were also Red Scarves. I couldn't blame that fox for what she've done, she wasn't herself, we needed to help her and I knew how she felt, to lose control of yourself like that and then hurt your friends…_

 _...Though at the same time, she was horrifying, I thought to myself: Is this how Lilac and Carol felt when they fought me?! I COULDN'T EVEN TRY TO FIGHT BACK, I JUST STOOD THERE WITH MY SHIELD UP BECAUSE I WAS AFRAID…_

" **I WAS AFRAID THAT I WOULD BECOME A MONSTER AGAIN!** " Milla suddenly shrieks before breaking into tears.


	3. The Sky Nation of Shang Tu

**-3-**

It was ten o'clock in the morning when the party finally arrives at Shang Tu, a mountain city that is known for it's focus on the mystic arts and as the former kingdom responsible for the Kingdom Stone's care. The municipality consisted of several buildings made from stone, marble and blue crystalline material which made Shang Tu seem like cyan glint at the side of the majestic mountain range which overlooked the massive bamboo forests of Jade Creek, resembling the spiraling blue energy now seen in the avalician night sky. Despite the peaceful sky nation miniature view in comparison to Shang Mu or Shuigang, that didn't make it any less greater as the youth had a deep feeling of pride and respect when they set foot into the city, it was much more calm and dignified than the other two kingdoms.

"It's so nice and quiet… I feel, relaxed." Norah muses, the panda girl amazed by the calm atmosphere and kind folk.

"Indeed, but it's still a kingdom." Chan informs, "There's still plenty of people to make plenty of commotion."

"We should meet the royal magister immediately." Milla suggests, she wanted to finish business as fast as possible, Kai who stood behind the group of youths responds with a faint dry grin in agreement.

"Milla you're alright?" Norah suddenly asks, the question catches the hound off guard.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You're not still angry about what happened a few days ago, are you?"

"Of course I'm not, I'm perfectly fine!" The canine snaps.

Norah dismisses the hound and turns her focus back on Chan, "Pst, you think she's okay?" she whispers into the fox's ear.

"You're skeptical too? I agree she's obviously still angry about last time, I think it's best we leave her alone.", the vulpine responds, he suddenly raises his voice in a joyful manner, "You're right Milla! Why don't we go see the royal magister now, then?"

Milla responds with a large grin, "Thank you, Chan."

Kai remains behind the group, he've been silent for the past few days, reflecting to himself as he holds on to the computer chip Tuanjie gave Milla about ten days ago: _We're finally here, I'm finally done with this group…_

 _I can finally analyse and review all that I've learned and discovered about those bots and interestingly that computer chip that Yěmāo guy gave Milla, when I get back to my lab. Thankfully they didn't notice me when I stole it, something that "important" must have something interesting in it and likely worth a lot of money, I can't believe they trusted me enough to even look at this thing._

… _However…_

 _Why do I feel… why am I even caring to begin with?!_

 _I don't need friends, I don't need emotions, I'll simply hand her the chip back, they will never know I ever took it nor will the Magister._

"Kai?"

The husky snaps out of his thoughts when he hears the voice of the young basset hound looking at him in awe, "What's with the face?" he demands.

"Oh, well you've been quiet-"

"I'm as fine, as you are." Kai interrupts in his usual monotone voice, fully aware of Milla's true emotions.

"Alright" Milla mumbles bitterly.

The party continue to walk down the streets of Shang Tu until the citizen recognizes the basset hound who help save their planet, the people at first stood in shock before greeting Milla after two long years; unlike Shang Mu, they didn't care to smother the poor hound girl, however this doesn't stop them from jubilantly audience the heroine. Several people came to meet the canine in a respectful manner, Milla for once in years enjoyed the attention she got from the Shang Tu citizen primarily consisting of avians and rodents, who were also curious about her relationship with Kai, Norah and Chan. Some people recognized Chan as the rising star from Shang Mu as others were naturally intrigued by Norah's method of energy manipulation. Most however were hesitant of Kai, fully recognizing the red scarf wrapped around the husky's left arm, whose monotonous expression didn't make the people's uneasiness any better.

After the citizens finish discussing with the party, the youths continued their walk to the Shang Tu palace.

"Hey, do anyone feel like they're being followed?" Chan ask in dry curiosity as his ears noticeably perks up to the sound of footsteps, "I'm not hearing things, right?"

Kai's eyes sharply turns as he notices swift movement through the alleyways, "I don't think you're hearing things…"

Norah sighs, as she's unable to compete with her companions heighten senses.

Milla sniff the air in an attempt to catch a scent, "I know this scent! This is from th-" the hound exclaims, however her expression became serious as she swiftly deflects a barrage of rouge shurikens with her energy shield, quickly drawing her sword as Kai, Norah and Chan prepares for combat as well. Immediately a squadron of five hooded figures appear before the party, with their faces mostly obscured by their hoods, wearing light armor and standard red scarves; equipped with a variety of different weapons ranging from knives, swords, or throwing weapons.

"Well isn't this quite the reunion." Kai sarcastically retorts.

Without question the Red Scarves members attacks the youths, one ninja wielding a pair of sais attacks Milla. The female swiftly swings her sais in an attempt to overwhelm the hound, however the canine was able to keep up with the ninja's quick movements, dodging or blocking all of the attacks with her katana before blasting the girl. The force of Milla's attack drags the ninja across the hard stone floor.

Chan was met with two opposing ninjas, a male and female both equipped with ninjatos, both attacking him at both ends. The fox quickly uses a smoke bomb to quickly disorientate the flanking assailants and escapes.

" _Want to see a neat trick?_ " The fox jubilantly asks, amplifying his voice as though he was addressing an audience, both ninjas cross each other with stares of confusion before lunging at the lone vulpine who stood balancing on top of a fence post. To both ninjas' surprise and the other fighters amazement, Chan merely swings his sword to counterattack, in response a sudden gust of wind blusters the criminals away.

Kai takes advantage of his opponent's momentary distraction and shoots them with a powerful shock bullet, electrocuting him into unconsciousness.

Milla, Kai and Chan later sees Norah with one of the red scarves in a headlock, the man was still conscious without his hood on, revealing a falcon who tries desperately to escape the panda girl's grip, "While you guys were having fun I decided to get ourselves a little prisoner." she boasts.

"Alright." Kai accepts, "So what's the big deal?" he asks the disabled falcon.

"Like hell I am!" The falcon scowls.

The husky in response drew one of his pistols and aims it directly at the falcon's head at point blank range, the avian quickly became pale as he starts to whimper underneath Norah's arm. Kai loads his gun, however...

"A bit cocky, don't you think? Those are only low ranked red scarves, they only been around for about a year. In other words they have nothing useful to say."

The group hears a voice behind them as the imprisoned red scarf retreats back to base, Milla and Norah immediately recognizes the man. Standing before the youths was a cavy with white hair, white fur and black fur around his green eyes, who wore a black tank-top, brown pants with silver lines at the sides, black boots, red fingerless gloves and a red infinite scarf; he was about twenty years old.

"Well, if it isn't crime prince himself." Kai mocks.

"Well thank you for the compliment." The cavy sarcastically purs, "So what the hell were you doing at the Qin Empire?!"

"You think you can bark orders at me, last time I checked, I'm only a humble mechanic."

"That didn't stop you from joining in our missions… I don't give a damn about technicalities, you still wear that scarf around your arm. Now tell, what were you doing at Qin?"

"If you must know… I was simply _reverse engineering_ some bots."

"Alright, that doesn't explain _why_ you're with miss hero dog here."

" _That_ … is none of your business, does it look like they want to arrest any mediocre assassins right now?"

"Spade, why did you attack us if you were just going to argue with Kai." Milla interrupts, obviously impatient from Kai and Spade's arguing.

"You've gotten bold, if you must know. All of you are coming with me, but not as prisoners or ransome… at least if you cooperate." Spade explains with a heavy sigh.

Milla makes a short instinctive nod, "Alright, as long as you promise not to hurt my friends!" she demands.

Spade ponders for a moment before responding, "Deal." he agrees, however despite the hound's brief relief, the cavy continues "In return you must promise to never reveal the location of our base nor interfere with our missions as of right now."

"Fine."

Chan analyses the cavy's expression, "Well that seems fair! So you're the infamous Spade I've been hearing about!"

"Hmph, aren't you the optimistic, though I have to admit that display you showed a few moments ago have caught my attention. Care to explain how you did that?" Spade references.

"Sorry, but a true magician never reveal his secrets!"

"Shame then." Spade dismisses the fox.

Norah thinks to herself as the group follows Spade to the Red Scarves Hideout: _So this is Spade, he's so different from when we grew up, he used to be so shy and sweet…_

 _Now he's rude and obnoxious, I can't believe how much he've changed. I can't believe Kai was right about someone's character._

 _He didn't even recognize me, maybe he'll remember me… Dail did say he still have a heart, surely he's not too long gone…_

 _Please remember me, at least remember me…_


	4. The Red Scarves

**-4-**

"So what brings me the pleasure of seeing you here of all places, didn't you tell me a few weeks ago, that I was scoundrel that you would never see face to face, or at least something along those lines, eh Vix?"

Vix Cole stood across from a person in a large room, the man overlooked the entire Shang Tu Storm Floods Facility through a large window with his back to the seemingly angry rabbit, the Floodgates have been inactive for decades and the complex was now known as the Red Scarves' Headquarters.

The rabbit gives the person a scornful look, "I'm here to tell you that we're finished! I'm through aiding you in your twisted ideals!"

The man remains silent for a moment, he slowly begins to hysterically laugh in amusement, "I don't believe you're in a position to do that, in fact by saying such things you only have risked your cousin's life." the man's demeanor quickly became serious as he came to a sudden realization, " _Unless, I'm threatening the wrong girl._ "

"Y-you don't mean…" Vix became petrified, the rabbit have always remained calm and mellow in several situations, but the figure who stood before him was the only person he truly hated. "You bastard, if you touch a single hair-" the mammal scowls before the person interrupts him.

"Don't worry I won't hurt _her_ , so long you continue to comply." The figure continues, "Now if you excuse me I have a grand appearance to make."

The rabbit remained defeated and helpless, he would never wish harm on his loved ones, at least the ones he had left. Vix stood petrified as the figure casually walks past him, he simply responds with the same scornful expression a moment ago before using his energy manipulation stave to teleport himself out of the facility.

"All in good time." The figure muses to himself, "All in good time."

* * *

Spade leads the youths towards a large metallic door which appears to be the main entrance to the Red Scarves' HQ. Norah and Chan were more cautious than Milla and Kai who were more familiar to the area than their peers, even though the last time the basset hound entered the Red Scarves' base, she took the hidden entrance Carol showed her; Spade makes a distinct whistle, which signals one of the guards at the control room, which resides at the left flanking watchtower, to open the massive entrance door. The large metallic gate slowly opens, revealing the massive courtyard consisting of several training areas, with large purple torches, many mongolian trees scattered throughout the plaza, and a large quantity of Red Scarves ranging from different species and ages, however most members were no younger than eleven with only a few exceptions to this particular age limit which included Carol Tea and Kai Xin who joined the Red Scarves when they were between the ages of eight or nine.

The scarves were trained in rigorous regimens, pushing even the youngest members to their limits, most members became participants in tournaments after about three months of membership and qualifying tests, by six months they are put into recognisance or thievery missions, when they become veterans after two years of training they're able to accept contracts or participate on assassination missions and big heists.

The youths were amazed by how many scarves there were, they observe the adults and children sparring against each other, the children were already taught how to use various weapons, some adults were strict toward their pupils; others were more lenient and even raise them as their own, sense most youths among the Red Scarves came from poverty or were orphans.

"Don't be deceived, most Red Scarves don't know each other very well, in fact the Red Scarves are more divided than you think." Kai informs his peers.

"What do you mean?" Chan asks, interested in learning more about the guild of thieves and assassins.

"As in Red Scarves sees each other differently from one another, some view each other as friends or loved ones; others as allies or mere comrades, though one thing they all have in common is that they're willing to do anything to survive, also obviously they don't have the best relationship with the three kingdoms, or any nation for that matter. Don't get them wrong they're certainly no rebellion if that's what you're thinking."

"I guess that makes sense, Avalice isn't exactly known for it's democracy." Norah infers, _What I don't understand is why a prince would join the Red Scarves then, what happened, I must be missing something._

 _I intend to find out!_

"You know, Norah, you've had that depressed face ever since we met Spade, is there something you're not telling us?" Kai questions.

Norah grimace in response, as the other two youths simply observes in dry curiosity; Spade, who were escorting the group to one of the complex's most prominent towers, simply turned his head slightly, barely viewing the panda girl in the corner of his eye, _Am I supposed to know this girl, she did seem to have recognize me when we met and she knows my brother._

 _She strangely reminds me of… no, it can't be. I don't remember her having any relatives, let alone a… daughter…_

Kai dismisses his interests towards Norah, "Either way, where are you taking us Spade?"

" _It's a pleasure to meet all of you!_ "

Immediately the youths and Spade hears a commanding voice, the surrounding Red Scarves swiftly halted as they stood uniform, well aware of the person who have appeared. The man was tall with white medium length hair, a white ponytail with a blue tip, white fur, yellow horns, crimson eyes wearing black boots, brown light pants, a black tank-top, a dark byzantium light jacket and a titular red scarf; he was about twenty-three years old, however what was most surprising about his appearance was that he was another dragon! There was commotion among the surrounding scarves, in response to Jai's appearance:

"Look who came out of his tower."

"What could Jai possibly want with Milla Basset."

"I don't know, but he's as unsettling as usual."

The dragon's appearance emanates a sense of intimidation as he casually walk towards the youths, which left a cold chill down everyone's spines. It was now obvious to Milla, who felt less intimidated and more uneasy and distrusting, that this man was a very high ranking Red Scarf and the member's fear of him implies that he was a powerful fighter.

"Well, at least you were courteous enough to meet them yourself, instead of having me climb up all of those stairs to your room." Spade spoke in a casual, and surprisingly respectful tone.

"Of course you would be respectful to your own mentor, Spade." Kai retorts.

"Whatever, I didn't come to all this trouble to take you guys here out of respect, I did it because I was more interested on what Jai had to say to you."

"I only hope your travels in Qin proved fruitful for you, Kai." The dragon interrupts, the man's accent proved equally as charismatic as his intimidating voice.

The husky simply snaps his tongue in annoyance.

"Anyway, It's a pleasure to meet you all, and welcome to the Red Scarves' Headquarters. It's especially nice to meet you Milla Basset… when you're not infiltrating our base and damaging our morale, that is."

Milla blushes in response "Well, um… sorry about that, it was for a good reason though." she explains.

"I understand, I can respect such valiant efforts, especially when it's to save someone of my kin. I'm sure you're quite surprised to discover me as a dragon, well, allow me to introduce myself: I am Jai, one of the highest ranking members of the Red Scarves and have been associated with them for ten years, I also prefer to be referred to as my more… _technical breed_ , a wyvern."

"Sorry if I'm asking a sensitive question, but if you're a wyvern, that make you a sky dragon of sorts, right?" Chan politely asks.

"In a technical sense, yes."

"So shouldn't you have wings?" Norah continues.

Before the wyvern could answer the question, suddenly among the crowd of miniscule ninjas who shrunk at Jai's presence, a red fox emerges from the crowd, the woman had scarlet hair with pink tips, orange fur with a white front and black ears, auburn hands and feet, cyan eyes wearing a black halterneck top, navy blue capris reaching up to her calves held together by a silver woven fabric belt, short black military boots, scarlet fingerless gloves and a red infinite scarf; she was twenty years old.

"Alright, what the hell is going on here?! What's with a large crowd of… people… here…" The fox rants before noticing the group of youths with Spade and Jai, she makes a loud cough and gathers her bearings before speaking again, "Well, it's nice to see you're out of that tower for once, also… what in Avalice's name is Milla Basset doing here?! Didn't she wreck this place with Carol Tea before… is that… oh great Kai too?!"

"You're as graceful as ever Hanna Skarlett, I've heard you discovered your parents, former renowned Red Scarves veterans, no less." Jai addresses in a sarcastic voice to the confused vulpine.

"Don't you dare refer to my parents like that with that tone!" Hanna snurls, "You may have these wimps intimidated by you, but I'm not afraid of you at all!"

"Quite the claim you've made, but can you back it up? I assure you that if you believe that because you've fought and possibly defeated Sash Lilac before, that you can challenge _any_ dragon? Then my sweet vulpinic girl, you are _gravely_ mistaken!" Jai informs, Hanna scornfully surrenders in response.

"Not so high and mighty now, huh?" Spade mocks.

"Just shut up, Spade!" Hanna scalds.

"Wait you found your parents?! That's great Hanna!" Milla interrupts, in an attempt to dismiss the wyvern and cavy's disrespectful comments.

"Well, thank you, I guess…"

"When did you meet them, have you talked to them?"

"Yeah… I'm sorry dear but I feel a little uncomfortable answering these questions."

"Oh, I understand." Milla dismisses as she makes a weary smile, "I'm just… happy for you."

"It's best you don't mention 'parents' around her, it's a sensitive topic" Kai monotonously informs.

Milla and Norah responds with simultaneous growls, in response to the husky's gesturing and inconsideration towards the hound's feelings.

"You should've stayed where ever you were, this place was less annoying without you around." Hanna argues against Kai, seemingly in Milla's defense.

"Trust me demon fox, the feeling is mutual."

"W-what did you call me?!" Hanna scowls, as she began retract her claws, preparing to attack the husky who then responds by drawing his pistol and aiming directly at the fox. Spade simply observes, clearly amused by the husky and fox's constant bickering and threats.

"Wait a sec!" Chan immediately stands between both scarves, "Let's not get into any unnecessary fights!"

"Oh I'm so desperately sorry Chan, but I'm still going to shoot a bullet through her head!" The husky threatens.

"You, headshotting me?! hehehe, that's a good one, not before I mangle your lifeless corpse with my claws!"

"What happened Chan, is Hanna too _hardcore_ for you to flirt?" Norah retorts, the male vulpine wasn't prepared for the panda girl to antagonize him.

"Well, um, you got to know when to stop, you see." The fox boy explains, blushing in embarrassment, scratching the back of his head.

"It doesn't matter anyways, I've heard she's married now." Kai counters, "Hey, but look if you really want to flirt with an older woman, than I can introduce you to this demon fox's friend, she happens to be a neighbor of mines at Jade Creek."

Spade and Jai tries to restrain themselves from laughing, as they come to realize who Kai was referring to, the joke wasn't funny to the red fox however.

"I HOPE YOU'RE NOT REFERRING TO WHO I THINK YOU'RE REFERRING TO! IF SO, SO HELP ME KAI XIN, I WILL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND, NOW!" Hanna screeches in an extremely enraged tone, which causes the other observing red scarves members to flinch, their intimidation towards the wyvern were swiftly replace with absolute fear of the outraged woman standing in front of them.

"I'd recommend staying out of the way." Spade suggests to the spectating ninjas, "When Hanna gets angry she really does become a demon fox." the cavy then coyly explains, with a smirk written on his face.

Kai wasn't phased by the fox threat, he simply switches to his rifle and takes aim.

"Hold on a minute, let's not spill any blood here!" A hare sudden appears in front of the red fox in Chan's aid, he had silver fur with a white tail and front, black hair and golden eyes, wearing a maroon V-neck vest, forest green trousers held up by a dark brown woven fabric belt, black military boots, black fingerless gloves, and a red infinite scarf; he was about the same age as Hanna and Spade.

"Hanna relax yourself, he's only trying to provoke you." The hare calmly explains, relaxing the fox.

"Thank you Rob, I needed that." Hanna assures, as the other ninjas leaves the scene, most of them in relief.

"Kai, why do you like to piss everyone off?"

"Psh, I don't, it's not my fault that both Spade and Hanna are both annoyances, I still don't see what you see in her." Kai answers.

"Then ignore them, also that is none of your business."

"Ah, Rob Stiil, I'm glad you arrived to calm your wife." Jai says.

"No thanks to you, also I didn't appreciate the threat you gave my wife, and what business do you have with these children?" Rob argues before briefly focusing on Milla. "Also nice to see you again Milla Basset, you've grown nicely and I see you've made some new friends too, though I'm assuming Kai is more like an ally."

"Thank you!" Milla gleefully responds, "I think Kai really cares, he just pretends he doesn't."

"I wouldn't be too sure, he's usually very serious."

"Well I think I've enjoyed this show long enough, I'm going to inspect the watch towers." Spade mentions before departs.

"Hey can I join you?" Norah asks, the observing wyvern made a quick scowling expression in response.

"Can I come too?" Milla adds.

Spade shrugs his shoulders in response, not caring either way. "Fine, just don't get in the way."

"Hmmmm, I suppose we can discuss things later today, for now you're free to roam this entire facility, you may use our cafeteria, shooting range, courtyards, training rooms, dojos, dormitories, watch towers, infirmaries and even talk with any of our members: young or old. You will be treated as our honored guests, however in return you must treat us as your humble hosts."

The youths nods in agreement before leaving Jai with Rob and Hanna.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"We were just leaving." Rob quickly responds, "Also If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't like the fact that panda girl wanted to be with Spade."

"I assure you're mistaken."

"I think you should change your prerogative." Rob retorts.

"I think you should change your priorities." Jai counters.

"Hey, let's not argue, we're in the same side here!" Hanna interferes, "We can just train over at the Shang Mu public dojo, or even at home at Rage Ravine."

"You're right Hanna, let's go.", Both husband and wife exits the facility.

* * *

Jai is walking through the catacombs of the Storm Flood Facility, the long hallways had small chambers at both sides, the walls was made with beige concrete and the doors were made of hardwood with torches after every two or three doors. The wyvern enters one of those rooms and finds one of his closest higher ups in bed with a woman, Jai recognized her as one of the nurses.

"What are you doing with one of the nurses, Icarus?" Jai demands

Both scarves were surprised by the wyvern's presence, "Dear, perhaps it's best we finish this later." Icarus asks softly yet hastily, a hawk who had served Jai for most of his days as a Red Scarf.

The woman immediately gets dressed, and swiftly retreats to the infirmary.

"What do you think you're doing at a time like this, when my bargaining chips have finally arrived."

"Your 'knight' already delivered Milla Basset to you?"

"Precisely, now everything is going according to plan. However, _do not_ make me regret choosing you as my right hand man, one of the few people who knows my true intentions with the Red Scarves."

"So what next, you have Milla now, shouldn't that be enough for you to gain control of your 'pawns' now?"

"True, but it appears the problems I've forscene, seems to have emerged sooner than I anticipated."

"Ah, so the apathetic siberian husky and pestering tolai hare, are finally picking their noses where they shouldn't."

"Don't be so coy, Icarus, I'm still in control, in fact I've gain a new advantage."

"Spade's little display regarding his brother two years ago, didn't give me the sense you were still in control, though." Icarus retorts, "By the way, how do you plan to use Milla Basset, and what is this new 'advantage'?"

"I have some tricks up my sleeve, she's wisen up, but I can still use her. Let's just say she's not only my bargaining chip for _her_ , but a sort of insurance for incase I lose control over my 'knight'. My main problem now is to ensure I can keep both of my 'knights' under control, one of them have already been corrupted with sentiment and the other is proving to be very unstable."

"So what do you want from me?"

"I want you to do what you do best…"

"So who do you want dead then?"

"I want you to assassinate a particular woman who's among us, my 'knight' have grown attached to her and I need to ensure that he remains as desensitized as possible, and what could be better than to put the blame on those youths."

"I don't understand why you couldn't just capture them now? Instead of having me kill one of our own!"

" _Your own not mines_ , also don't be an imbecile, use that brain of yours, we need to give the Red Scarves a reason to attack someone as prominent as Milla Basset and one of their own like Kai Xin; not only that, we cannot attract the attention of the origin kingdoms. and now we have the Qin Empire and the Araiansu to worry about because of that naive brat's recent actions."

"Alright then, but did you really have to come now."

"You'll have all night to do what you were just doing, though don't do anything too unethical please, people may call me evil for what I'm doing and personally, I wouldn't care, however I'm no pervert like you.", Jai then exits the chamber, giving out the most genuine and darkest smile he ever had in years as he exits the catacombs. _Poor foolish bird, little does he knows that he's no different from my collection of puppets._


	5. The Crime Prince

**-5-**

It was a stormy night at Shang Tu, the overcast loomed over the mountain city like a dark shroud as strong gusts of winds began to follow at the storm's wake. Rain poured down like falling rocks as the thunder claps and the lighting strikes the earth, most of the residents were careful to remain indoors and avoid anything that would conduct electricity. The sound of the wind chimes found in front of some of the houses gave the residential area an eerie atmosphere as the whistling winds added ambience. Underground in a hidden tunnel made from brownstone and lit up by occasional torches, which emitted a faint orange glow, were two boys walking down the long pathway. The younger boy could hear the whistling wind through the old plumbing, simply looking around through his surroundings with a mixed feelings of uneasiness and lack of interest.

"What's the big idea?" The younger male demanded.

The older person who was the boy's escort simply smiles in response, which only angered the boy, however the escort began to speak, "I'm going to give you an offer, Prince of Shuigang… or at least _former_ prince."

"Hmph, I-I don't need your so-called offer, and don't ever call me that!"

"Heh, I wonder what happened over at Shuigang, for you to be so adamant about your family."

"What is that suppose to mean? I don't like my family that much, so what?"

"Well if that's how you truly feel my young panda, then who am I to change your opinion. Though, since you are royalty surely you've heard of the likes of me."

The young panda responds by scowling the older boy, "Hey, don't call me that either! You can also call me a cavy, got it!" the rodent pauses for a moment, he realizes the red scarf wrapped around the escort's neck, "You're a Red Scarf, aren't you?" he coldly acknowledged with a sweat rolling down his head, indicating his sudden lack of composure.

"Don't fret, if anything you should be grateful. Although the Red Scarves don't take anyone of royalty nicely, you would be the _exception_."

" _exception_ you say, what exactly do you want from me?"

"Well after that display you showed above ground at Shang Tu, I couldn't help but be impressed, I want to offer you a spot among our ranks."

"Is that so?" The cavy responded with a mere smirk.

"I'm surprised as to how fast you've gotten comfortable with the idea, care to share why?"

"What can I say, everything I've known was a lie, my identity and lineage. I honestly have nothing left to lose."

"Well then I'll take that as a yes, besides, I think I would have to capture you if you said 'no' and we wouldn't want that. No, I wouldn't want to waste good potential."

"Figures, also who the hell are you."

"You can call me, Jai. What happens to be your name, prince?"

The cavy, annoyed by Jai's remarks, growls in exasperation as he ponders on what should be his response, he obviously didn't want to admit his real name.

Jai continues, "Alright, how about this: what would you liked to be called?"

The young chimera simply smiles, "If you say so, then… Spade."

* * *

At the Red Scarves' Headquarters, Spade is strolling down the long walls as he simply makes his rounds through the watchtowers, behind him were the two adolescent girls who agreed to aid him in his inspections. Norah and Milla simply observe the area around them as they're able to see the entirety of the facility and the bamboo forest at the opposing side of the wall, the panda girl however were more focused on the cavy she was following, pacing herself slightly faster than the hound in an attempt to catch up with Spade, "So, uh, I heard you used to be a prince." she asks.

Spade simply sigh in response, "I hate it when people call me that." he mumbles to himself before calmly answering "I _was_ a prince."

"So if you were a prince, how come you joined the Red Scarves?"

"Why would that be any of your business, who do you think you are?" The cavy argues in a rude tone.

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that!" Milla scalds in Norah's defense, "Though, why did you join the scarves?" she then repeats out of mere curiosity.

"It's complicated, I would've thought that you of all people, Milla, would understand that."

Milla remains speechless, unable to counter Spade's argument; she ignores the cavy, remembering how long she've been able to tolerate Kai's attitude, at this point Spade's rudeness was nothing more of a nuisance to her, "I understand." the basset hound submits.

"You didn't have to defend me, Milla." Norah explains and halts, holding on to her arm in embarrassment.

Milla also stops and responds "I know, but you are my friend, also Spade can be a jerk."

"Right…" The panda girl wryly agrees.

"Norah?"

"Milla?"

"Are you alright? You really have been acting weird since we got here, do you feel uncomfortable being here, you know with all of these ninjas, there's nothing to be a afraid of."

"Of course not!" Norah proclaims, feeling offended that her friend would even consider such a thing, "It's… more personal…" she then admits softly.

"Hey, are you two going to catch up?" Spade calls, impatiently waiting for Milla and Norah.

"He really can be mean sometime." Milla murmurs, however her comment was distinct enough for Norah to hear, later sticking her tongue out at the impatient rodent.

Spade growls, mildly annoyed by the basset hound's gesture, as he waits for the two girls he hears a familiar female voice, "You're quite the ladies man, aren't ya Spade?"

"Psh, how long has it been since I've heard from you, I wonder."

"Not long after the whole alien invasion thing, honestly I didn't care to hear the details about that. Though is that the response you give to an old friend?!"

"Shouldn't you be… I don't know… training some newbies or something along those lines?"

The female chinchilla, about Spade's age had grey fur with a similar attire as the cavy himself, she's about twenty-one years old and the same rank as Spade, she responds with a semi-annoyed face, "My mom could be a pain in the ass sometime, 'It's your duty as a senior to train the next generation of Red Scarves and blah blah blah'" the chinchilla mocks, "It's not that I don't enjoy training some of those trainees, some of those kids are actually gifted fighters, but some excitement would be nice too!" she then sigh after she finishes her ranting.

"Hmph, what can you do? Your mother **is** one of the leaders…"

"Yeah… can we switch leaders, I'd rather have Jai?"

Spade makes a short chuckle in response, just before Milla and Norah approaches him.

"Don't try to hide that chuckle! So who's this?" Norah demands.

"Names Lexi, so you're this Norah girl I've been hearing about, and nice meet you too Milla Basset." The woman brightly responds.

Norah slightly grimaces in response, later apologizing for her blunt question, "Huh, you're a lot nicer than Spade."

"Spade's giving you trouble? Don't let that whole 'tough guy' act fool ya, inside he's a big sweetheart." Lexi explains to Spade's annoyance.

The cavy responds with a dry smirk, "You go ahead and think that." he denies.

"You know I like this Spade, you should be with him more often." Norah suggests.

"Yeah, I like this more lighthearted Spade more too." Milla adds.

"I wish I could, but, I've been busy these past few years."

"How so?"

"Her mother, Aziza Kyokan, is one of the five leaders of the Red Scarves. Aziza is suppose to make sure the Red Scarves are in the right mental state and health to participate on missions, don't underestimate her though, she's as deadly as she is understanding and caring." Spade explains, _I remember when I first met her, not exactly the best first impression you give to one of your bosses, not to mention how close me and Lexi have gotten by that time: I didn't even know I was hanging out with one of the leader's daughter, well not for sure that is, I've had my suspicions. She've gotten used to me though, but I'll honest with myself that is the only woman I'm actually legitimately afraid of._

"He speaks from experience, too." Lexi taunts before explaining in further detail, "She wants me to follow in her foot steps, I understand that it's good to make sure the scarves are competent and healthy and all, but I wish she could just let me do what I want, sometimes." the female rodent muses, in a somewhat saddened tone.

"I can relate, sister." Norah agrees.

"Is that so? How exactly?"

"I'd rather not talk about that, that's more personal."

"You know what, enough chat! It been awhile since I spent some time with you Spade." Lexi offers to Spade.

The cavy simply nods in response, retaining his smile, "Sure, I don't see why not."

"Hey you two girls, wanna join?" Lexi focuses her attention more towards the two youths.

"Sure!" Milla and Norah simultaneously responds, the female rodent responds with large smile while Spade keeps his current expression for the chinchilla's sake.

* * *

Over in one of the sparring circles at the courtyard was Chan, who stood against several scarves equipped with katanas or ninjatos. The large crowd of observing scarves all cheer for their fellow members, most of them were either trainees or regulars, as the opposing fox gestures with a simple wave of his hand. Kai also watch out of interest, _Hmph, let's see if what Milla told us about Chan's ability to fight multiple opponents, is true._

 _I guess if there's one thing I like about the Red Scarves is that they have interesting taste in sport._

The opposing ninjas attack the vulpine with much effort, however unable to compete with Chan's swift movements, acrobatic skill and parrying. Changing their strategy the scarves successfully flank the fox, who remains calm as he casually drops one of his smoke bombs; the scarves remain vigilant as they try their hardest to focus on the vulpine through the disorienting smoke, however the ninjas quickly find themselves surprised as they accidently attack themselves. Out of frustration the ninjas begins arguing amongst one another, before Chan appears across from them. Chan goes on the offensive as the group of ninjas attempts to escape the fox's assault by splitting into two groups, however the fox quickly reads their movements and swings his sword, summoning a gust of wind towards one division, blasting them off the arena; the second division then takes advantage of Chan's short distraction as they surround and attack him on all directions. Chan responds with a powerful spin with his sword drawn, as a result a whirlwind appears at the vulpine's current position, the attack devastates the opposing group, the fox then sheaths his blade in response, signifying the end of the fight. The audience were astonished by the fox's skill and abilities.

Kai only responds with an intrigued but monotonic expression, _Interesting, so that gust of wind back at Shang Tu wasn't a coincidence, somehow Chan created that wind…_

 _...Could be energy manipulation, but I don't see an energy crystal, then again-_

Standing in front of the arena is a hawk with an arrangement of brown and black feathers, wearing a white uniform with black outlines, brown pants and black boots with an infinity scarf, equipped with a naginata with a silver handle and a blade which appeared to have been made with a diamond-like crystal, the avian was about twenty-three years old. Kai notices the bird observing the match and confronts him, "So, why it isn't another flamboyant character for me to lay my eyes on, isn't that right, Icarus?"

"Kai, I heard you were busy at Qin, Jai told me some interesting things… by any miracle, are you actually growing a heart?!" Icarus sarcastically retorts.

The husky simply ignores the hawk's smart remark and simply responds with a cold stare which only made the avian cautious, "When you have Ms. Hero around, you don't really have a choice." Kai explains.

"I don't believe you."

"Is that so? Why would you care, I hope you don't believe I'll betray the scarves, do you? If so, then I can give you a better reason to think that."

Icarus takes immediate offense to Kai's response, "You think you can threaten me?! I've dealt with worse threats than you!"

"Didn't Jai taught you not to underestimate anyone? It seems both yours and Spade's egos have shined brighter than your mentor's teachings."

"You're actually complementing our mentor?!"

"Yeah right." The husky sarcastically answers, "I still think Jai is a creep. I just see him far more intelligent than ignoramuses like you and Spade, that's all."

"Why you little…"

"What's that you say?"

Icarus out of rage vacates the area with his injured students following right behind him. _Joke all you want you pestering dog! when everything is said and done: you won't be making that coyful grin of yours!_

Chan exits the courtyard with Kai, as both boys enters one of the several buildings in the facility, "Who was that bird you were talking to?" the vulpine politely asks, observing the smiling husky, an expression he himself haven't seen from the monotonous canine.

"You mean Icarus? He's just a red scarf senior is all."

"Senior?"

Kai makes a short sigh before explaining, "The Red Scarves are divided into six ranks: The lowest rank are affiliates, like me; Then we have the trainees or newbies, they're the majority of the scarves as new members join almost everyday; There's the regulars, which was the rank, from what I heard, that Sash Lilac and Carol Tea were part of before leaving them; The veterans are those who been with the scarves for at least two years or when they're skilled enough, that demon fox and her husband is part of that rank; We have the seniors, appointed members who have been chosen by the leaders, to either coordinate the largest missions or train the next generation of scarves, Spade and Icarus qualifies as seniors; Finally we have the five leaders, generally what they say goes, but it honestly depends on how lenient they are, Jai is somewhere borderlining strict, though leaders like Aziza are more lenient, though I wouldn't take that kindness for granted."

"Interesting, so the ranks are based off experience and knowledge?"

"More or less, of course like I said before, the scarves can care less about rankings, they care more about each other's specific ideals."

"Well, that doesn't sound very bad, though how come most of these members are so young, yet we have adults here supervising them… in a strange way, it's kinda like school."

"Yes, a school that teaches you deadly martial arts techniques and how to use a variety of different lethal weapons, in some cases they teach you to use your own natural advantages, like senses, claws and such."

"Now that you put it that way, it seems kinda bad."

"I can't discredit the Red Scarves that much, if a member is too young, they actually provide the kid with an acceptable education, _at least_." Kai then ponders to himself, _and from what I've seen of Carol Tea, I feel like she fell victim to that crap._

"You're thinking about something."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because that what you always do… is think."

"Everyone thinks."

"You know what I mean."

"If you must know I was thinking about what Jai needs from us."

"It does seem suspicious, doesn't it?"

"Unless, perhaps he didn't expect to see all of us."

"How so?"

"As in, who out of all four of us would even be prominent enough for a Red Scarves leader to call up here?"

"Well, that would be Milla Basset of course, though, I have noticed a sudden change in Jai's expression when Norah asked to go with Spade to inspect the watchtowers."

"Is that so." Kai raises an eyebrow, showing mild interest, _Is it possible that Norah could be more important than she's making herself out to be? She did say she's from an aristocratic family, well at least I concluded she's from an aristocratic family… exactly how important is Norah's family…_

 _Now that I think about it… Norah never told us her surname! So how can we even know that…_

 _Milla been friends with Norah for eight years, surely she would know her full name, like Norah wouldn't keep something like that from her closest friend…_

Chan interrupts the husky's train of thought, "Also that Rob character, he doesn't get along with Jai very well, don't he."

"They've never gotten along, for a trained assassin and thief, Rob is actually… very moral, to an extent."

"Jai _isn't_?"

"Have you forgotten that we're talking about the guy who mentored Spade, he's not exactly known for his morals. What can Rob do though, he's only a veteran and Jai's a leader, also I'm sure he've been busy now that he's married."

"I see… you know, whatever is going on around here, it can't possibly be that bad."

"Perhaps you're right."

* * *

It was midnight, everyone among the Red Scarves either went home or were sleeping in their dorms at the HQ, the skies were clear and the moon was full, one of the scarves were heading towards her own dorm after a long day of training new red scarves and spending quality time with an old friend, this unfortunate woman was Lexi. As the rodent walks through the courtyard she notices a presence, she prepares her knife in defense, "Who's there!" she demands.

In response the cloaked figure appears before her, the man's expression was serious and unsettling. Lexi looks into the man's hood and was shocked to discover who it was…

"Y-you?!"

"What's wrong Lexi? You've seem… petrified."

"Nonsense! Though what are you doing here?!"

"I should say the same to you, girl."

"Don't call me girl!"

The figure began to slowly walk closer to Lexi, the rodent switches to her more effective katana as the person moves closer and closer. "You think you can intimidate me?" the person retorts.

"No, but if you want to fight then I'll gladly beat the crap out of you! I think my mother would like to hear how a traitor assaulted her daughter!"

"Oh you're right about that, though I won't be the one taking the blame, let's say that your _departure_ will be for a good cause."

Lexi grows pale, she wasn't expecting this kind of response, she then realizes that the person was really going to try to kill her, but she wasn't worried, she've seen him fight before but not the other way around, she seemingly had the advantage.

The man simply chuckles at the chinchilla's confidence, "Don't be so cocky, you haven't seen everything I'm capable of."

"Enough talk are we going to fight or not."

Immediately Lexi and the opposing figure charge at each other, and began their conflict under the moonlight.


	6. Condolences

**-6-**

It was a gloomy day at the Red Scarves' Hideout, several scarves gather around at the courtyard, most of them disturbed by the horrifying scene, including the group of youths who were abruptly woken up by the stampeding assassins.

Laying down, lifeless in front of the group of people, tainted with blood: some visibly originating from her mouth, was Lexi. Crying and whimpering as she holds Lexi's lifeless body, caressing her hair with much despair, was a much older chinchilla who resembled the victim; the weeping woman was Lexi's own mother, Aziza Kyokan. Everyone including Milla, Kai, Norah and Chan simply remain still and quiet in respect; the silence left a dreadful atmosphere as the grieving mother simply weep for her lost daughter, her _only daughter_.

Casually walking towards the scene, already dressed and prepared, was Jai who simply looks down upon Aziza before he speak, "What happened here?" he demands.

"I-I was just heading towards the cafeteria to get some breakfast, th-then I say something behind the bushes…" A young boy responds, he was no older than Milla.

"Mhm, go on…"

"I checked what was it, then I found Lexi's body, it took me a while to realize that she was dead."

"Hmph, do you have any idea how she died?"

The boy didn't respond, instead Aziza interrupts, "What kind of question is that?! It's obvious she was murdered!"

"I suppose it's possible we have a traitor among us, though I wonder who could be strong enough to fight a Senior like Lexi, from what I can see, there seems to have been a struggle." He coldly states, which angers the observing group for his apathy towards Lexi's death, Aziza spoke before anyone else could respond.

"Is that honestly all you care about right now…" Aziza's dry response, causes the observing group to slowly back off, "DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER?! YOU HEARTLESS! INDISPUTABLE! INSUFFERABLE BASTARD!" she suddenly snaps with such outrage that even the veterans was intimidated by the rodent's bravado towards the unfazed wyvern, though they assumed that Aziza would have the right; both Jai and Aziza were leaders, however the chinchilla was older and more experienced, everyone knew never to underestimate her and Jai was no exception.

"Well, now that you're done mindlessly scream in my ear… I'm sorry about your daughter, but you must understand that unless you don't want to avenge her, I'd recommend complying with my solution, instead of letting your emotions get in the way of your better judgement, you want to avenge her, no?" Jai explains, retaining his expression.

"Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say." Aziza scowls.

"For now we'll send out our highest ranking veterans to look for Lexi's killer, everyone is to continue their normal lives, however if anyone is caught acting strange do not hesitate to confront the person, whoever is responsible for this will be met with severe punishment." The group became worrisome after Jai's relaxed explanation.

"Um, excuse me." Norah suddenly speaks, "I have a question."

"Yes dear." Aziza politely responds.

"Who exactly is going to tell Spade about… _this_."

Immediately, Aziza and the surrounding scarves grew pale at the thought, the ninjas began conversing among one another:

"Crap, the panda girl is right! Who is going to tell Spade about this?!"

"Lexi was like the only person in this world that mellowed him down, with her dead, well…"

"Look! All I know is that I feel really bad about the poor sucker who's going to break it to him!"

The scarves' discussion slowly transitions into arguing, the two leaders simply watch in total disappointment, "Huh, another normal day for the Red Scarves?" Jai coyfully asks.

Aziza simply grabs her forehead in frustration, "Sometimes I wish they can stop arguing, at least the veterans are… somewhat better."

"I'll volunteer!" Milla quickly responds, everyone are snaps out of their current argument.

"Y-you sure, Milla Basset?"

Milla simply responds with a short nod.

* * *

Jai is watching over the facility from his tower, as always the mosaic pattern simply passes through him as he observes the young basset hound entering the seniors' building to meet Spade. All the dragon could do is simply smile as he witness his opposing player's predictable movements, a few steps ahead as always. Icarus appears behind the observing wyvern, however Jai sensed the hawk's presence. Icarus remained equipped with his cloak and light armor, his naginata still had traces of Lexi's blood.

"You were wise to hideout until things calmed." Jai muses.

"Everything is going according to plan it seems, I'm going to enjoy the outcome of this." Icarus compliments.

"Don't get too cocky, you have a habit of enjoying these kind of things too much."

"You're the one who deprived me of my pleasure, though I will admit this plan is most ingenious."

"Enough talk, let's continue the plan, shall we?" Jai hears an abrupt knocking on his door, Icarus quickly hides as Rob Stiil emerges from the entrance door.

"Alright Jai, I've been able to deal with your insensitive crap through my nine years with the scarves, but the way you treated Aziza was uncalled for, also you can't just tell everyone to continue on with their lives like nothing happened!" Rob argues.

"That's not true, I understand that but what you fail to understand is that it's best for everyone to remain calm during these situations, it makes things easier for the veterans anyways."

"You can't just control people like that, and you don't even have the right to do so! This isn't some kingdom that you rule, and you know that."

"So you don't care rather we find Lexi's murderer or not? That you don't actually care?!"

"Of course I do, if anything Lexi was one of the most beloved members we ever had, especially to Spade; however this is too much!", Rob reasons, _She was also one of the few members who understood why Lilac and Carol left the scarves, and when she saw what those three girls did, she didn't scald or scowl at them, if anything she seemed happy… however I feel she was more happy to hear Spade's involvement in the battle at the Shuigang Snowfields, I still don't believe it… but I have no choice now._

"What are you really trying to say."

"That you have another motive."

"Heh, that's a good one… also where exactly is your wife?"

"What do you… what the?!" The hare acknowledges, "What the hell, I thought she was following me! I hope she's not doing anything too risky."

"What can she possibly do here that would get her in trouble? Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"Me and Hanna needed some cash, so we went here to possibly find an available contract and maybe restock on supplies while we were at it. When we reached the gates, however, we were told about Lexi's murder, you can imagine how angry we both were to hear this, especially Hanna, even though as they gotten older and became more distant from each other, Lexi was still one of Hanna's first few friends when she joined the Scarves."

"Ah, I remember how well acquainted Hanna and Lexi were, even when she began associating herself with you and those other three… you'll be going now."

"I think we'll be staying here for now, at least until all of this is over."

"Very well."

Rob cautiously leaves the chamber as Icarus descends from the ceiling only a few seconds after the hare's departure, "So what are we going to do about that pest?" he questions.

"I have more interesting plans for Hanna and Rob."

"Well then, I suppose our priority are those kids then."

"Precisely. They're currently the imminent threat, hopefully we won't need to resort to _extreme_ measures."

"I actually already have a plan to make things even more interesting."

Jai simply shrug his shoulders before walking past the hawk, "Don't get yourself killed." the wyvern states as he exits his chamber.

Icarus responds with a distinct smile, _I expected no less from you to have already figured out my intentions._

* * *

Milla begins to walk towards Spade's room, where suddenly she see a girl pacing towards her, she seems frightened. The basset hound encounters the girl, "Hey, you're alright. I'm here to see Spade."

"Oh, you are?! Well… Spade isn't exactly… _himself_ , it's understandable after what happened to Lexi." the scarf hesitantly responds.

"I was coming over to tell him about that, though."

"Well, information moves around pretty quickly."

"I'm still going to see him!"

"Alright, just be… careful."

Milla walks down the beige and red hallways into Spade's room, the cavy's livingquarters was a large chamber with beige walls and granite floors, it was certainly a room worthy of a high ranking member; the furniture was simple and plain, obviously the cavy was a man who prefer functionality over personality, in a way Milla felt upset that the infamous rodent would waste such a good space. She sees Spade leaning against a pillar, simply staring into the window besides him.

"Spade?"

There was no response, the cavy continues to stare outside the window.

"I… I just wanted to see you're okay… y-you know Norah have been really worried about you, she even wanted me to say hello for her."

"So." Spade responds in a dry, strenuous voice, although he was trying to hide it… Milla could hear the depression from his voice.

"You seem, surprisingly calm…"

"Just leave."

"But-"

"I said _leave_." Spade voice became slightly expressive.

"Sp-"

"GET OUT" The cavy yells, as he aggressively throws one of his cards at the young hound, Milla yelps in surprise as she quickly closes the door behind her blocking the card's pathway.

Spade simply breaths and closes his eyes, thinking about when he first met Lexi:

" _Sooooooooo, what's your name? Helloooo? Anyone in there?"_

 _She was admittedly annoying, "Spade."_

" _Spade, huh? A weird name, I'm sure your parents whoever they may be, wouldn't be cruel enough to give you such a silly name."_

 _She was very annoying, "I'd rather not tell you my real name."_

" _Hey, I never asked for your real name, I know this may seem blunt, but you're kinda cute."_

" _C-cute?! I don't even know who you are."_

" _Oh, my bad, the names Lexi Kyokan!"_

" _Kyokan… isn't that the name of…"_

" _Aye, aye, aye let's not talk about my mom, alright? Though yes she's one of the leaders of the Red Scarves, pst but guess what new kid…"_

" _What…" I was legitimately curious._

" _I've only known about who my mom really is for two years!"_

 _I wasn't expecting that kind of response, you would've thought that someone who discovers something like that about a loved one would be upset, however in her case she seemed fine."_

" _You know, an ordinary girl would be upset to learn something like that about her mother, but I didn't mind, I guess I've always been an understanding person, ain't that right 'Prince of Cards'?"_

" _What did you call me?!"_

" _hehehe, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist… sorry if I didn't tell you that I already know who you were."_

" _Well you're the first to take that sensitive piece of info lightly."_

" _Eh, don't let those pricks get to you. Friends?"_

 _I was reluctant at first, hell I actually refused, but she never left my side… I eventually agreed and to be honest I learned to tolerate her antics, but after Sash and Carol left she stopped talking to me for a while, I wonder what happened… there's something I rather not remember, and I do manage to forget… it feels strange, now that I think about it, I think I've learned to forget things too easily now…_

Spade here's a knock but remains in his current location, the person who enters his room was Jai, "I can see you're not taking her death lightly."

"What do you want." Spade scowls.

"I want discuss something with you."

The cavy simply remains silent as her hears what his former mentor have to say to him.

* * *

Meanwhile Kai, Norah and Chan awaits for Milla to return from informing Spade about Lexi's death, however they are met with a disturbed basset hound whose expression was worthy of grim tale.

"What happened?!" Norah demands with much haste.

"He already knew, he also almost skewer me with a card." Milla grimly informs.

Norah's expression is saddened in response, "I-I… I mean…"

Kai later sigh in response, "I think we have more important issues, I have distinct feeling that there's more to this."

"Yeah, something isn't right." Chan agrees.

Norah remains silent.

"Maybe it really is just a traitor though?" Milla reasons, "I don't think it's a good idea to interfere with the Red Scarves' business."

"I agree, however don't you think this is over dramatic?" Kai argues.

"Alright, it does seem a bit dramatic, but so what? They lost an important person to them!"

"You obviously haven't met Jai before, he's a lot more intelligent than that, to the point that everything he does have some purpose, he's not the type of guy who does things for no reason or let emotion cloud his judgement."

"It does seem suspicious." Norah says.

"Well, then I'll gladly provide some recognisance! Chao!" Chan suddenly proclaims as he lunges a smoke bomb at the ground, covering the group in colorful smoke as the vulpine vanishes.

"That was… Interesting… and perhaps a bit… too sudden." Norah coughs.

"Well, I guess we need someone stealthy and quick enough to provide some info." Milla explains.

Kai nods in agreement, "I think I'm going to pay a small visit, also I should warn you but I've been noticing Hanna moving around these parts, she seems to be investigating against Rob's wishes." the husky later leaves the two girls.

"Do you feel like Kai knows more?" Norah muses.

"He always knows more." Milla admits.

"I guess we can ask some people around."

"Yeah, though why do you think Kai is so worried about Hanna?"


	7. Hidden Power

**-7-**

Hanna Skarlett was casually walking towards the infirmary where they kept Lexi's body, when the entrance entered her line of sight, she noticed two veterans guarding the door, the fox attempts to walk past them however the two guarding scarves stops her, "What's the big idea, I can't at least see Lexi?!" she questions.

"Sorry Skarlett, but we were given specific orders not to let anyone into the nurse's office." One scarf explains.

"Who do you think you are, I know you likely got your orders from one of Aziza's seniors however that's no reason to at least let me see her, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to let me in." The vulpinic woman reasons.

"Hanna, you're honestly not that much of a smooth talker, you'll be going now." The other scarf retorts.

The vulpine simply growls in annoyance, as she storms off, she remains hidden at the corner leading towards the entrance so that the guards aren't aware of her presence while she still have visual of the doorway, _How am I going to get past those guards, I can't knock them out, then someone would suspect something and honestly I don't feel like getting on any leader's bad side, especially Aziza._

 _I could be stealthy and sneak in, but I'm sure those guards might notice me, they seem far more experienced than me, even if we're the same rank._

 _Distracting them may not do any justice either; well, I don't have anything to distract them with, that is… at least anything I would want to distract them with…_

As Hanna's ideas prove fruitless she becomes frustrated and agitated, however by some miracle something unexpected happens:

"Hey can you two get me some supplies." A nurse nicely asks the two guards.

"We would like to help you, however we need to guard this room, until Aziza knows what to do with Lexi's body." They softly explains.

"Please, I'll be sure to tell you if I see anything weird, I'm also red scarf, remember?"

"Very well, I guess it wouldn't hurt."

The nurse hands over a small piece of paper, "I'm sure you can get these supplies inside the utility room down at the catacombs."

The two guards leaves the area; Hanna, amazed by her own luck, quickly hides in a near by closet so the guards won't notice her. After the guards was out of sight the fox swiftly sneaks into the infirmary..

At the infirmary, Hanna sees Lexi's dead body laying on a gurney underneath an opaque white sheet, she quietly approaches the bed. As the fox begins to remove the sheet, she becomes somewhat nauseous at the sight, despite years of assassination and crime which had desensitized her, _Who would even think about killing you, you were so kind, you didn't deserve this…_

 _Everyone enjoyed your company and despite how much most people found Spade annoying or simply hated him, you would always defend him, you were like the only friend he ever had… and kept._

Hanna slowly lifts the sheet off of Lexi, as the fox examines the body she notices a bullet wound on her chest.

"So how's the investigating." Hanna hears a familiar voice, she remains calm before she responds.

"Well hello there honey, sorry about a few hours ago." Hanna apologizes with a fake smile and cheerful tone, the person she is confronted by, was her husband: Rob Stiil.

"You should be grateful that I convinced the nurse to send those guards away, so how is it going… even though I don't necessarily approve of it."

"It's going fine, though I have a quick question, do you know anyone who would have any knowledge on ammunition?"

"No one specifically, perhaps someone from the armory would know a thing or two… if not then perhaps…"

"NO!" The fox explodes in disagreement.

"Alright then, it was just a suggestion." Rob retorts with a small joyful grin, "I think I'll see if our ATVs need any repairs."

"You do that…"

Rob then leaves the nurse's office with Hanna following right behind him.

* * *

It was now nine o'clock, the sun began to set and Chan spent hours in recognisance, he stood balancing on top of a mongolian tree as he observes the surrounding area for any suspicious activity. Just when the vulpine was going to find a more suitable location he notices Icarus and two of his students hidden in the shadows as they enter what appears to be a secret entrance of sort. Chan was sure to memorize the exact location of the trap door before one of the students conceals it and walks casually into the crowd of scarves.

The swift vulpinic boy makes sure no one notices him as he locates the trap door, opens it and discovers a narrow brownstone tunnel, lit up by occasional torches. Chan after about ten minutes of walking enters a large chamber which appeared to have been connected to the Shang Tu sewer system, intrigued he hides behind a rock formation as he observes the hawk dumping his stained cloak into the flowing water, likely to be lost forever in the complex labyrinthine sewers tunnels. Icarus then quickly cleans his naginata of Lexi's blood. It takes the fox a few minutes to realize what the bird was doing and decided to take action, only to be ambushed by a woman, who with the element of surprise in her side, captures Chan.

"So the entertainer wishes to amuse me with his futile attempts." Icarus retorts as the fox is brought down into the open chamber, then the hawk's student grabs Chan's sword and kicks it aside.

"If what you're expecting is failure, the you're mistaken my friend. Entertainment is all about success, it's how you use that success that matters." Chan counters with a faint grin, "Also I must say, the Red Scarves' girls are as beautiful as they are deadly."

"I can not argue against such wisdom, nor that observation." Icarus chuckles, "Have you considered a change in venue?"

"Is this your way of recruiting me? I'm flattered, however I think I'll stick with my humble life as an entertainer."

"Humble you say? I now see we are more similar than I imagined."

"I see, you had your fair share of fame before the scarves, and have good taste in women too."

"Indeed, we both were born in poverty until fate gracefully gave us a second change, like you said: It's how we use our success that matters. However do you truly believe that you're the only one capable of such _abilities_."

"Truly an interesting power, isn't it? Though I don't take much virtue of it, I prefer to keep such power hidden, less trouble that way."

"I agree, that's why I reserve my power for more serious missions, usually those that involve Jai's dirty work.."

"So, Jai is the mastermind behind all of this?." Chan infers, during his idle talk with Icarus he slowly manages to grab a smoke bomb.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing, I think it's time we end our chat…" Icarus proclaims.

"Couldn't agree more." Chan interrupts as he drops a smoke bomb, disorientating both Icarus and his student, the fox first knocks out the female. After a few seconds the fox is met with a sharp violent blast heading straight towards him, he dodges the attack and unties himself, as the blast causes an explosion behind him. Icarus swings his spear again and summons another blast which cause a similar explosion, this time Chan was running for his sword, which Icarus disarmed from him prior to their conversation.

Both the avian and vulpine had both their weapons drawn.

" **COMBUSTION** affinity, huh?" Chan observes.

"Indeed, you know If I wanted to, I could make it so the attack would pierce through your body, instead of causing an explosion on contact like usual, however I'd rather implode you into the dust particles you control with your **WIND** affinity." Icarus responds.

"I'd take it you used that to give Lexi one nasty surprise when you fought her." Chan becomes more serious than usual.

"Her helpless expression when she witnessed my true power was honestly _priceless_." Icarus boasts, _Such a shame I can't tell you how I really killed her though, else you wouldn't be wasting your time here fighting me, wouldn't you?_

Immediately both Icarus and Chan lung at each other, the avian was the first to attack as he thrusts his naginata several times, however the fox avoids all the attacks; Chan attempts to break the avian's balance with a low swipe kick, then changes his position to swings his sword at Icarus, however the bird avoids the attack by dashing past the fox as he skillfully spins his spear before striking the fox down, the vulpine however parries the attack, the force of both attacks recoils both fighters apart from each other. With more distance from his opponent, Chan a powerful gust of wind through the several sewer tunnels, Icarus wedges his naginata and uses it as a handle to resist the gale-force winds that Chan summoned, the vulpine then attacks the hawk as it tries to remove his weapon from the ground. Unable to remove his weapon, Icarus insteads uses it as leverage to avoid the fox's attack and jump behind him, then successfully pulls the naginata out and swings it at the fox.

Chan bends backwards to avoid the attack, to prevent himself from falling backwards he performs several back flips to gather his bearings. The two skilled fighters are back at their former positions and like before Icarus attacks first, however he summons three consecutive combustion blasts, the fox counters by summoning a powerful blast of wind as he rolls for cover. The force of the blast however causes Chan to lose his footing as Icarus is blasted across the chamber crashing against the hard stone floor. One of the combustions destroys an essential rock formation causing the chamber to lose stability.

"The chamber is going to collapse!" Chan warns.

"Hmph, I think I've stalled you long enough." Icarus muses as he pulls out one of Chan's smoke bombs that he stole during the fight, he uses it and escapes into the sewers.

Chan chases after Icarus as the tunnel collapse behind him, he finds himself in the maze of tunnels, and can hear the avian from all directions, who is well aware of the vulpine's strong hearing.

"Your strong sense of hearing getting you down? I'm sure hearing all of this echoing is quite annoying." Icarus beckons.

"Actually on the contrary, you're wrong." Chan retorts as he hone his hearing, sensing the hawks location the fox summons strong winds, amplified by the small tunnels, which whistles past the vulpine directly towards the unsuspecting hawk. Icarus is blasted into the sewage and the fox quickly retreats.

Walking down the long sewer ways, Chan finds a deviant tunnel which had a similar brownstone as the tunnel he entered the sewers from, the fox decides to follow the tunnel in hopes of finding an exit. Following the familiar tunnel lit up by familiar pattern of torches, for a couple minutes he finally sees an exit, a metallic door which seemed well fortified, _I wonder where this lead, guess I'm going to have to break through it…_

 _Though if I use my wind affinity here, it'll surely do more damage than good, this tunnel is simply too enclosed… I don't have a choice, here's hoping there's nothing important behind this door._

Like that Chan summons more wind as the force catapults the metallic door off it's hinges, the fox discovers that this is a secret entrance to the armory.

* * *

Over at Jade Creek, just a few miles away from the Red Scarves HQ, was Icarus emerging from the massive river, the hawk briefly coughs before speaking to himself, "I'm so sorry Chan but this bird isn't drowning anytime soon, though I'll admire your effort."

The bird casually walks back to the facility as he witnesses the massive avalician moon with the blue spiralling energy shining down on the bamboo forest, _Everything is going according to plan, knowing that mindless fox she went to investigate Lexi's murder and when she piece together the evidence I provided her she'll find her killer…_

 _Incase that doesn't work, now I can accuse the other boy for assaulting me, caving in that entry tunnel was likely my most brilliant plan yet, hopefully that woman escaped too, I wouldn't want such a pretty face to die._


	8. The Accusation

**-8-**

 _Edited by Etherdrone_

The atmosphere of the Red Scarves' hideout was heavy.

It didn't take much for Milla to notice it, she was always sensitive to pressures like this. She threw around strange, awkward looks at her surroundings as the gang walked across the courtyard and she notice a couple of odd things. Firstly, Kai and Chan both seems abnormally cautious and anxious, which made her a little bit more nervous, seeing as how they usually poised themselves. Secondly, the scarves around them were equally angry and paranoid - some would be shifting uncontrollably in place, while others were refusing, outright, to speak to others.

Milla then knew exactly why her friends were anxious, too. It was easy to perceive this atmosphere, and its mark wasn't lost on any of the youths. Out of sheer morbid curiosity, Kai approaches one of the Scarves and was turned away with what bordered unconditional hostility. Usually, he would have accepted that as a natural reaction, but this was different.

Chan was also behaving oddly ever since he came back from whatever he was doing. The disturbed look on his eyes contradicted with his usual enthusiasm, and it made Milla more bothered than she thought it would. _What would cause these two to be in a situation such as this?_

 _Maybe they even knew what was going on?_

Shyly, Milla approaches them. "Why is everyone acting so weird today?" she asks. Norah, on a spring of feeling similar to her own, approaches the group.

"Yeah, what's going on?" she demands.

Still, their questions were met with no answer, only with an uncomfortable amount of stern, awkward silence. Kai felt the gaze of a nearby scarf fall on him, and he clacked his tongue in annoyance, turning himself to face Chan.

"...You're looking gloomy. What happened?" he asks with a relatively demanding tone, which made Chan shake his head in disapproval.

"I should say the same to you," he replies with an unusual hush to his tone. "We'll talk about this later."

Kai blinked, taking the words of the fox at face value, he nods. "Whatever," he quips quickly as an interjection. "It's too early for breakfast, though, but I'm feeling hungry already. You all coming?"

Everyone seems to agree.

It didn't take too long, in their uncomfortable walk through the Hideout, to finally spot the cafeteria. As they approached it, however, something unusual caught their eye. Hanna Skarlett was there, stalking the entrance, the clear glow of outrage drawn in her eyes.

"So many things I don't understand in a single morning..." Norah announces with irritated curiosity as the woman spots the group and in response snurls.

Taking in an aggressive stance, Hanna extracts her claws and launches at them a voice that was like the grinding of stones. "You there! You're not going anywhere!"

"Get out of the way," Kai demands with disinterest. "You're blocking the path to the cafeteria."

"You think I'm being cute when I ORDER YOU TO SIT YOUR ASS ON THE GROUND?"

She approaches the group with fury all over her frame, which immediately put them all into edge. Everyone around them was paying attention to them, now.

"...What the hell is the big idea, Hanna?" Kai continues with intensity, demanding an answer.

"You apparently think you have the big ones, Kai Xin!"

"What are you talking about? Start making sense!" He defends himself, starting to get angry at the words Hanna spat at him. Milla immediately jumped in between them, coming to Kai's assistance.

"Y-Yeah, I'm not sure I understand! What do you mean?"

"STAY OUT OF THIS, BASSET!" Hanna fumed in anger as she swiped the air in front of her. "I don't have the patience to deal with you right now!"

The little hound backs away a step in shock of the yelling, but instead of stepping down, it only strengthened her stance. "No! I mean, I don't know what's going on! Explain so we can understand!"

"You want to understand? FINE!" she says as she points directly at Kai, who felt his brow furrow in annoyance. "HIM! I mean, Kai Xin! He's the one that did it! He's the one that murdered Lexi!"

Everything around them seemed to have echo the words Hanna shouted.

The scarves now looked between each other with curious sparks in their eyes. Some were whispering to one another, others were circling the group at a relatively, Hanna-safe distance. Some were getting irritated, others were listening in, intently.

Norah shifts awkwardly in place as she noticed the commotion around them in the few seconds of silence that followed. Chan fiddles with the hilt of his sword - a nervous act that he hadn't done in a long, long time. Nevertheless, the group all felt the words Hanna spoke with clarity, they didn't mishear a single thing.

"You know," Kai retorts with his usual, albeit forced, tone of neutrality. "I always thought you were delusional. Now this kind of confirmed it."

"I'm about to confirm whenever or not worms like you actually bleed red when I gut them!"

"Do you have any proof of this?" Norah interjects, stepping forward as a desperate act so she wouldn't have to step backwards. "I mean, as much as I dislike Kai, I don't think he'd kill a fellow Red Scarf unless he had a damn good reason. Especially Lexi."

Hanna took a silent moment to straighten her stance, throwing a look at the panda girl through the corner of her eye. "She died from a gunshot, and there was a bullet lodged at her chest, I checked it myself. When I came to the armory to analyze it, one of the scarves who were in charge of the weapons told me what kind of bullet it was."

"Someone died from a gunshot? That's revolutionary news, Hanna." Kai mocks as he didn't flinch from the absolutely furious look Hanna shot at him.

"SHUT. UP. I checked the bullet, Kai Xin! I traced its typing! Its size, its shape! It's the kind of bullet your pistols use! There's NO EXCUSE FOR THIS!"

The commotion seems to have gotten ten times worse. Kai's eyes shifted for a moment, _What the hell is she saying?_

"That's ridiculous! You think anyone is going to take your word for it without any physical proof?" he argues, for the first time in this exchange he shifted from his place, pointing at her, accusingly.

Everyone in the area stops. The heated argument between them came to a quick pause as rough footsteps emerges from the surrounding scarves, with Jai emerging from them. He stopped as soon as he was clearly visible, holding a document folder in his hand and wearing a weary expression.

"There is no need to take one's own words, Kai," Jai states with a heavy tone, drawing some papers from the folder he was holding. "You want tangible evidence of your involvement in Lexi's assassination? It exists."

Without moving from where he was, Jai placed the papers back into the folder and tosses it at the Husky, who caught it with ease. Opening it and reading the papers inside, everything seemed to be in… to be in order.

Diagnostics. Bullet tracing. Wound burns. Cause of death. Time of death.

He had no real alibi. The tracings were correct. The burns were precise. Kai felt a cold sweat run down his face in disbelief as he looked up to Hanna, who was fiddling with her pocket and pulls the bullet from it, showing it to everyone that could see it.

"Do you know what Ballistic Markings are, Kai Xin? Do you really think, in all your immense, overwhelming wisdom, that the Red Scarves won't keep a track record of the markings of the weapons its own members use on the bullets it fires? DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN FIRE A BULLET AND THINK THAT NONE OF US WILL TAKE NOTICE? ESPECIALLY IF YOU SHOOT AT ONE OF US?!"

She shouted from the bottom of her lungs as she tosses the bullet into the ground with all of her strength, making a very loud and dry metallic crack that echoed around the hideout like a death sentence. The bullet kicked off the rock it landed on and rolls stupidly down to Kai's feet, who was having much more trouble coming up with words than he realistically thought possible.

His voice was paralyzed in his throat. His mind was racing faster than it had ever done before, but it was doing so in circles. He was trying to process the information he was receiving, but it wasn't helping him.

He wasn't focusing. With a quick blink, something he heard from Jai came back to him like a punch to the gut, and he turned his head to face the wyvern, "You said _involvement_."

"You heard me correctly. Your allies, Kai, are equally to blame."

"What?! I can understand how this could prove Kai's guilt, but ours?!" Norah argues, stomping her foot down, trying her best not to show any sign of fear.

"I think I can help with that." A voice echoes from behind the crowds as they all moved aside to let its owner pass by. Jai and Hanna immediately covers their noses from the horrendous stench that Icarus emanated, appearing before the prosecuted youths and bleeding a little.

"Urgh! What in the ancient's name were you doing to yourself last night?!" Hanna asks, appalled by Icarus' odor which was amplified many times over due to her stronger sense of smell. She thought she was going to be sick from it.

"You should thank that fox boy for that." He states with a nice amount of venom in his tone, which immediately put Chan's hand back into the hilt of the sword, nervously. Hanna shifts her eyes a little, curious.

"What are you talking about, Icarus?"

"Simple! Chan Fokkusu _assaulted_ me last night in the catacombs which connected to the Shang Tu sewer system! The rest is pretty self-explanatory!"

Chan clacked his tongue, defensively. His peers, shocked to hear this, turns around to look at him straight in the eye, as he shifts his gaze. Norah immediately grabs his jacket by the collar out of pure rage. "CHAN! What the hell were you thinking?!" she scowls.

"Are you aware of what you've done?" Kai scolds, gritting his teeth in the process of doing so.

"G-Guys I'm sure he had a good reason! I mean..." Milla cries in the vulpine's defense, but her voice fell on deaf ears.

"Well, then!" Jai's voice rips through the air, drawing everyone's attention back to himself. "Now that we're done here, we'll be taking the three of you down to the catacombs... but you, Kai. As you know, the Red Scarves don't take treacherous behavior lightly. You'll be made an example of, and die."

The surrounding Red Scarves veterans took Jai's final words as the cue to spring to action, quickly surrounding the youths. Chan quickly grabs a handful of smoke bombs and was just as quick to launch them around the group, engulfing the whole surrounding building and themselves in the process in a vast, colorful haze. Immediately following his swift exit to the left, the youths attempt to flee the area with a couple of veterans on their toes, including Hanna. Icarus quickly made a notion to leave, leaving Jai behind.

Milla was breathing heavily. The Red Scarves were relentless in their pursuit, throwing shurikens at them about as often as their feet would touch the ground. She was thankful for the training she had as she created a deflective shield behind them as she ran, successfully stopping their assault with the help of Norah and a few well-placed firewalls she'd create with a few nice, on-the-run leg sweeps.

Progress was cut relatively short as the group came across a blockade, led by Icarus. The wall they made with random, scattered objects seemed like a minor task for the twenty Scarves the Hawk led. Chan furrowed his brow in response to the Icarus' victorious smile.

The adjacent Scarves by him, however, began to cover their noses due to his stench:

"Damn, you really stink!"

"Couldn't you have taken a bath, dude?"

"I think I'm gonna hurl!"

Icarus felt a twinge of anger slap his mind as he turns around, with zero patience for his subordinates. "NOT RELEVANT! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE, IDIOTS!"

 _I wish I could just blow them away... but showing off my affinity right now - that's a mistake._

"Damn it! What now?" Norah asks through gritted teeth, but was silenced as Chan placed his hand on her shoulder and took the lead.

"...I'll open a path."

He immediately took to springing forward, having the blockade in front of them prepare his advance, but they weren't prepared for this. Just as he got a couple yards away from the wall of Scarves, Chan jumps and draw his sword. The draw was fast - much faster than their eyes probably registered. He summons a powerful gust of wind, aimed directly at their feet, and it was a successful maneuver, blasting the Scarves in random directions. Icarus fled before the blast struck them, and Kai found an opportunity to load an explosive round into his rifle and shot it at the makeshift blockade, opening their way through.

"We need to find a way out of here!" Kai suggests, unloading the spent shell from his gun with a satisfying, cooling noise and some smoke. "I'm sure Jai already has this place in lockdown!"

"How do you suggest we do that?" Chan asks as he sheaths his blade, following the youths that now had no blockade to impede their progress.

Milla ponders for a quick moment before she comes to a simple and elegant solution. "I know where we can get out of here! The place where Carol took me though last time!"

"You think they didn't close that place down, too?" Norah asked, which prompted Milla to shake her head.

"I don't think they did! Carol said it was a secret passageway, and it was filled with traps..."

"Someone like Jai would need a special place to leave the Hideout in case something like this ever happened," Kai muses for a second, agreeing with Milla's reasoning. "It's a better chance than anything else we have! Let's go!"

"Lead the way!" Chan says as the youths took a sharp dive down a straight passageway which led directly towards the building which contained the passage they needed.

It was a short run, but a very fast one. All of them pressed their step in order to not fall back or be caught, and soon enough, the group reaches the secret entrance down the massive beige and red hall, the landmark they were looking for.

The run, however, came to an abrupt end.

Everyone stops as soon as Spade left the shadows of the landmark before them. His eyes were unfocused, but sharp and intense. The group stepped backwards on edge as he rose a card, pointing it blindly at them.

"I've nothing against you, Milla. Neither against your friends. But **he's** not leaving."

"Trust me, Spade... the feeling is mutual," Norah started, clenching her fists as she brought them up...

"But we're not going to let you hurt him!" Milla finishes, stepping forward, pleadingly. "PLEASE, Spade! This is all wrong! Something is wrong! This-"

"I am going to gut you like a fish and hang you in my ceiling if you don't get out of my way, Milla."

She gasped as the voice that reached her ears was hardly recognizable as Spade's. He was angry, sad, bothered, grieving... All of those things at once, creating one incoherent mess of a feeling that clouded his ears and disrupted his thoughts.

Milla focuses her eyes and draws her sword. That was her response, and Spade's mouth distorted, furious.

There were no words. Spade launches a barrage of throwing cards at the group at lightning speed, resulting in the four splitting up. Milla, landing on her feet and still wielding her sword, launched a psychic pulse towards him, but it proved pointless. Spade dashes right through the attack and it struck the walls behind him. He directed his dash towards Kai, who aims his rifle and takes a shot at him, which Spade dodges by simply dropping to his own side. His momentum didn't stop, however, and that caught Kai by surprise as the cavy lunges himself to melee range, swinging his arm and grabbing him by the neck, pushing the husky down into the ground and striking his head against it.

Kai gasped in shock as he fought as hard as he could to not lose consciousness. Chan grits his teeth in surprise and drew his sword again, launching a wind blast powerful enough to surprise Spade, making him kick the ground and jump away from the attack, which passed above Kai and splitting some wood platforms that hanged loosely behind them. Norah dash across the ground, following Spade's movement and jumps after him, only to be surprised by him drawing more cards. She immediately took notice and put both arms in front, receiving a salvo of aerial blasts during her descent, groaning and yelping in pain. Each explosive card felt like a horrendous burn, and she fell on the ground, followed by Spade, who had drawn more cards and looks at the two still standing.

Chan pointed the sword forward and prepares himself for the attack, which immediately followed. Spade's ranged attack missed its mark as both sword users dashes in opposite directions as soon as he threw his cards at them, flanking the Cavy from both sides, which prompted him to pick a target, and he did. Milla.

He dashed quickly, making Chan snap his tongue in frustration, but Milla expected this. She fought Spade before, even if just a little, so she was well aware of how quick Spade could be, an attribute that Dail shared with him. She rose her shield before her as soon as she saw him draw more cards, and was met with a discontent expression from him. Instead of throwing the cards at her, he dashes under the shield and swings the card at melee range, which made her gasp in surprise and block the strike with her sword, which creates a small burst of energy, putting them both at a relatively safe distance from one another.

He blinks with a hint of sanity back into his otherwise murderous gaze. "Since when can you wield a short sword?"

"None of your business, especially when you're trying to hurt my friends!"

"Your friend? Is this Lilac's naiveté seeping into your brain? HE ISN'T! He'd rather soon abandon you and throw you in a ditch as soon as he has what he wants from you!"

Milla remains silent, which prompted Spade to become even more shaken by his own mind...

Shaken enough so that when he realized Kai was standing up, it was late for him to react.

Another shot - electric in nature - was blasted from the muzzle of Kai's rifle and it made contact with Spade's left arm as he jumps away to dodge it. He couldn't. The blast struck his elbow and he grunted in pain as the electricity seeped into his skin and paralyzed his arm, which now hanged uselessly by his side, numb. Spade's feet touched the ground awkwardly as he attempts to gain proper footing, but now it was too late for him to realize that Norah was mid-air, preparing a dropkick that if not for the fact he was already in motion, would have hit him directly. He rose his good arm, carrying a card between his fingers, and blocked the hit with rather explosive results. Norah was flung backwards and lands on her feet... Spade, on the other hand, fell to his knee, grunting from the pain of the impact, sizzling in smoke.

The youths all breathe deeply as the fight seemingly ends. If they were to run now...! But Kai, still breathing heavily and in mind-numbing pain, simply walks a few steps forward and points one of his guns directly at Spade's head, whom looked up at the muzzle of the pistol with fury in his eyes.

"Kai! What are you doing?!" Milla cries as she ran towards them, shocked. Spade coughed heavily and yells at them, his voice seething with unnatural fury.

"Go ahead! Kill me! Just like you did Lexi! DO IT!" Spade challenges from the bottom of his lungs, his voice was barely his anymore.

"Kai, we have no time for this!" Chan pleads as he looks behind and noticed that their fight did not go unnoticed. "Just leave him alone! We have to leave!"

Kai gritted his teeth in silence as the rapidly approaching group of Scarves runs towards them with their weapons drawn.

 _Why am I hesitating?!_

"KAI! PLEASE!" The basset hound begs.

As the ninjas got closer, Chan quickly grabbed two smoke bombs and uses them. Taking advantage of the cover, the youths, including Kai, run through the smoke screen and flee, leaving a defiant Spade on the ground, wounded and denied. However, Hanna was among this pursuing group of Scarves, and as soon as she saw another smoke bomb explode, she lunged forward on all fours.

"Not this time, you won't!"

Making a mention to capture Kai, she tackles a figure in the smoke and pinned it to the ground. "I got you!" she boasts, only to realize that she had captured Norah.

"Hey! Get off me!" Norah snarls, but any physical attempt to flee was met with failure. "Let me GO!"

"N-Norah!" Milla gasps in tears as she quickly made a mention to turn back, only to be interrupted by Chan and Kai.

"We can't! We don't have time, the smoke is clearing!" Chan warns.

"We gotta get out of here, now!" Kai shouts, helping Chan into pulling Milla away from the scarves.

"No! I won't leave her! Not again!" Milla cries. "NORAH!"

"Milla just leave me! Go, just go!" Norah pleas in between her thrashing and ragged attempts at breathing. "GO!"

"NORAH!"

"JUST GO, MILLA!"

Kai and Chan immediately pull Milla away and exit the facility into Jade Creek through the hidden exit, leaving the Red Scarves' Hideout behind them.

* * *

 **Well things aren't going well for the party it seems, stay tuned for the second half of Volume 3, beta chapters are available at the Freedom Planet Forum Thread for Avalice Chronicles.**


	9. Deconstruction

**-9-**

In the lush wilderness of Jade Creek, Chan patrols the surrounding area for any Red Scarves who could potentially be pursuing him and the remaining youths, Milla and Kai. Kai remains posted in a cave, with his rifle loaded, ready to shoot anyone who comes across his line of sight. After both the husky and fox determines the surrounding area is safe, they rush to their next destination, several stops and hours of walking later they station by a river.

"The Red scarves are still looking for us, it seems they really want to find us." Chan informs.

"We're going to have to leave this place, at least until everything cools down. Those damn ninjas are relentless." Kai responds.

"I don't think you're in a position to make orders." Chan sighs, "However I do agree with you; what are we going to do with Milla?"

"We'll just carry her like before. So who's turn is it?"

Milla was sitting at the river bank with her arms wrapped around her legs. She simply stays there, pondering on what had just happened, for hours she remained totally silent, until now. "We have to go back." Milla seldomly states in a desolate tone, "We have to save her."

"I'm sorry about Norah, but we have to go." Kai counters with minimal sympathy.

"Why?" Milla remains juxtapositional to the two males, not facing them at all and with her back to them, "Did you really kill Lexi?"

"No."

"So how come Jai had evidence?"

"I-I don't know." Kai admits, for the first time in his life, he didn't have a reasonable explanation for something.

"Milla, I'm sure there's a reasonable expla-" Chan starts, in the husky's defense, however he was quickly hushed by the opposing hound's sudden rage.

"You're no better! Why did you attack Icarus anyways!? Why did you have to make things worse!?"

"Milla…"

"NO! Shut up, I'm pissed off at both of you! Norah didn't have to be captured!"

"Stop being a baby." Kai retorts, "I'm sure she can handle herself."

"Why did you join…"

Kai remains silent, knowing the question was directed towards him.

"What? You thought I was some kind of project that you wanted to observe, or something?" Milla infers in a mocking tone. "Was Spade right about you!?" her tone intensifies again.

The husky was surprised with the hound's conclusion, though in a way she was right. "Yes." Kai bluntly reveals.

Milla simply scoffs at him, she had mixed feelings of anger and disappointment. "I'm not angry at you, but if you and Chan want to be cowards then I'll break into that damn fortress myself! I've done it before, I can do it again!"

Both boys was surprised by the hound's sudden bravado, she seems determined about saving her long lost friend.

"Milla, I think we should think about this, I know you miss Norah but she can hold her own for the time being." Chan explains, "She's tough. She'll make it through, I never said we were going to abandon her! Trust me, I want to tell all of you everything you need to know about me, but now isn't the time, I understand I come off as a stranger."

The hound seems astounded by the vulpine's tone of voice and speech, Kai simply thinks over what he should do, _Damn, they're going to get themselves killed! I still shouldn't care, and yet I feel like I can't just let them die like this, I might have given up emotion but I still have some degree of morals._

 _With that said, I need to figure out how did Jai get that evidence, to be fair I can't return to the Red Scarves now, they want me dead._

"You're both idiots, but I suppose I can't let you die. I'll help, but this will be the last time." Kai decides.

Milla simply exchange a mellow smile, "Let's go then." she suddenly proclaims with a serious voice.

"W-w-wait! We can't just go head first into that complex." Chan considers.

"Didn't I just explained that I've broke into that complex before."

"Yes, but the only difference is that they'll be expecting us, also frankly I think you and Carol just got lucky the last time" Kai muses, "I do have a solution, follow me, don't tell anyone about what I'm going to show you."

* * *

At the catacombs of the Red Scarve's HQ, Norah sat boredly in a prison cell. The scarves had stripped her of her clothes leaving her with only her black capris and a black tank-top they provided her. They also took her energy manipulation bracelets as well, "These guys are certainly smarter than the Qin Soldiers." she concludes, applauding the guild of thieves and assassins' deductive skills.

Hours after hours, the panda girl remain unable to escape, she just pace around her cell, whistling, and laying down on her bed to pass the time. A scarf comes every few hours to serve her breakfast, lunch or dinner; the meals themselves were pretty inferior however satisfying. After eating her dinner, Norah began to think to herself, _Well, this is quite the situation I got myself into, though it's not a situation I'm not familiar with though, life as a mercenary isn't exactly peaches and cream._

 _Hm, I still don't understand how I'm involved in this, first of all I met Lexi like only few days ago and it was great experience, I would never be involved with her murder._

 _I hope these guys are bright enough to understand that._

Norah's thought process was interrupted when Spade approaches her cell, she simply responds with a warmer expression before talking, "Hi there."

"I'm not here for small talk. Who the hell are you, and how do you know my brother?" Spade demands with a hostile tone.

"You really don't remember me… Spade, you have to remember me!" Norah pleads, her expression became desolate.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know you, and if I did then I'm sure I had a good reason to forget who you are."

"Why did you really came here?"

"To assure you that we won't hurt Milla or Chan, we only want Kai, once they come back to save you, we'll capture that annoying husky and let the rest of you leave."

"As much as I like that offer, I think I'll decline." Norah scowls.

"You don't have a choice, I hope you enjoy sleeping on that hard bed of yours. I would've provided you with an actual room and bed, but if you want to be that way then sleep in this craphole."

Norah fills with rage, she couldn't believe that the boy she had known for so long have became someone like Spade, he wasn't the same boy, he couldn't be. The young prince she had known was kind, passionate, understanding and a great friend… she once saw him as an older brother, it made sense for her to think this because of who _she_ used to be, "Wow, it seems all three of us got pretty crappy lives, I wonder how our parents would think of us now." she muses to herself as she turns her back away from the chamber's entrance, laying down on the the hard wooden plank that functioned as her bed.

The panda girl hears a short mocking laughter, she turns her head slightly and sees Icarus in front of the iron bars which imprisons her, "Quite the realization you recently had, huh?" the hawk asks.

"What do you want?" Norah demands.

"Well…" Icarus opens the cell's door, slowly approaching the panda girl, who lunges at him in an attempt to attack him, however he quickly grabs on the Norah's arm, forcing it behind her back and crashing her into the concrete walls. The force of the avian's attack causes the panda's mouth and forehead to bleed, she simply responds with a scowling expression, "...I'm here to do my job, so why don't just calm down and 'sleep'." Icarus finishes as he knocks Norah unconscious.

* * *

Norah began to regain consciousness as she felt a sharp pain on her head, "Urgh, what… what happened?" she rhetorically asks.

It took her a moment to realize that her arms were chained to the floor, the chains weren't too tight so she felt mildly comfortable. The room she was in was cold and dark, the only source of light she could find was the moonlight emanating from a large mosaic window at the center of the wall across from her which stretched from the floor to the ceiling; the moonlight shines at her.

"Do you know what makes wyverns of my sort so different from others born of my kin?" asks a figure, who stood in front of the massive window, Norah remains silent, recognizing the person's voice. "Unlike most dragons, we actually quite like the cold, I'm sure as a FIRE mage this isn't exactly the most comfortable of predicaments."

"I've been through worse, Jai." Norah responds with calm yet visibly wrathful voice.

The wyvern simply laughs to himself, amused by the panda girl's tone, "I'm sure you have, you know, it's ironic…"

"What's ironic?"

"It's ironic that you of all people happened to arrive here, with one of the heroine's who saved avalice. Of course I know of your association with your allies long before you even set foot in Shang Tu, I've already warned Vix of what would happen if you were to interfere."

"What does Vix have to do with anything, how do you even know him?!"

"What do you think, it's not everyday the Red Scarves have the honor to see someone like you here of all places, isn't that right, Nora Li."

"H-how do you-" Norah's courage diminished, she was surprised that Jai addressed her the way he did.

"How do I know your full name, like I said before: I've done my research and I've already warned Vix of what would happen to you."

"Don't call me that! Stop saying lies about Vix!" Norah screeches.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but in a way Vix is like a scout of mine; he've deceived you."

"Shut up!"

"What's even more interesting is that I can say the same thing for Spade, my little rebellious acolyte."

"SHUT UP!"

"What? Feel betrayed, I don't blame you."

"It's not true! You're lying! I'm not falling for your mind games!"

Immediately, Jai appears before the chained panda, grabs her neck, "If there's one thing that I can say is objectively 'good' about my nature, is that I'm usually always honest." Jai's sudden change of tone alone was enough to terrify Norah, what truly scares her however was how fast he soften his voice and reverted back to his original demeanor.

It took the panda girl a few minutes to find her voice, "Even if you're being honest, how would I know that you're telling me everything."

Jai simply smiles in response, glaring at Norah's determined face, likely desiring to burn him to ashes, he figures. "Clever girl." he admits.

"You're the one who killed Lexi!" Norah infers, to Jai's amusement.

"You're half right, Icarus was the one who killed her, I simply gave him the order."

"O-order?! Is that how you see your own comrade?! Tools to be used, to do your dirty work?!"

"Yes, but I give Icarus the freedom to do whatever he pleases, so long he doesn't betray me that is, so I'd say he's like a bishop." the wyvern reveals, "I'd say the entirety of the Red Scarves are my pawns."

Norah was disgusted by Jai's analogy as much as she wanted to kill him, "So what is Spade then, what the hell did you do to him?!"

"Oh, you misunderstand, I've done nothing to him, he chose to became a red scarf himself, he proved to be useful, and in return I gave him the highest honor I can provide. To the Red Scarves he's a Senior, to me he's my knight."

"No, you're not telling me everything!"

"That's as much you need to know, anyways."

"What do you want from me?"

"That's a good question, well… I need you as a bargaining chip for both Milla and Vix. While I'm at it, I can find out more about Vix's treachery. I want to see if he told you _anything_."

"I'm sorry I have nothing to say, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you! If Vix really was working for you, then I'm sure he had a reason!"

"Very well, I guess we'll do this the hard way." Jai draws his ninjato in response and cut Norah's right cheek, "Don't worry I'll be careful not to kill you, just know that I don't find pleasure from doing this, I'd rather end people nice and quick, it's less messy that way. You're going to tell me everything you know, and I will break your faith on that foolish rabbit you've associated yourself with."

* * *

The remaining party members found themselves in an elevator going down a couple feet underground, it was only a moment ago when Kai led Milla and Chan into a hidden cave which led to the elevator shaft they're currently slowly descending down in. When the aged elevator finally reaches its destination the group enters a large chamber made with similar concrete to Red Scarve's HQ and had large pillars supporting the ceiling. The room consisted of a large assortment of machinery, technology and computers; carcasses of some of Brevon's former robot soldiers were seen throughout, the entire room was a total mess. There was several computer consoles and industrial tools, some of them were even military grade. A set of screens were visibly mounted in one whole wall, some of them had footage of the surrounding area and others simply seemed like ordinary televisions, that area also had the largest workstation, and as far as Milla and Chan could understand, perhaps the most powerful computer.

"The living quarters and showers are at the east wing. The restrooms and kitchen is at the west wing, also there's some unauthorized locations so be careful unless you want to be shot or worse." Kai explains as he casually grabs a can of soda from one of the many mini fridges he had, "Also one of you have to sleep in the couch here, because there's only two functioning bedrooms, I haven't fully refurbish this place yet."

"Yuck! Don't you know how to clean?!" Milla complains stepping on what she hope was either food or oil, never before have she ever wished to have wore shoes.

"Look, I'm more focus on my work and also making sure this place doesn't collapse on top of us. At least I shower."

"At least organize and tidy up!"

"This is an interesting laboratory you have here, Kai." Chan interrupts, admiring the husky's hard work and effort.

"Don't patronize me." Kai counters.

"Actually, I'm being sincere. I meant to ask this earlier, but how did such a talented person such as yourself, became affiliated with the Red Scarves."

"That's… something I'd rather not discuss."

Milla expression suddenly became sympathetic in response to Kai and Chan's exchange, then she began thinking about Norah, _I really hope you're okay, please. Please be okay!_

 _I'm not expecting you to be perfectly intact, but at least healthy, I don't want to see my friend hurt again… oh gosh, not again! Not again!_


	10. The Infiltration

**-10-**

Milla wakes up, she looks around as she sits up and gets off the contemporary full sized bed, all she can see is the beige concrete walls and the minimal amount of furniture in the room, the chamber was lit up by a strange green light. In her usual sleeping attire, she get's up from the bed and walks across the main hall towards the kitchen, there she began to make herself breakfast. Kai's food supply was fairly minimal, which didn't surprise the hound at all, her husky companion never had the healthiest lifestyle and Kai would usually deny this, which would always annoy her. Grabbing eggs, turkey bacon and bread, she quickly cook the eggs and bacon, serving herself a simple sandwich for breakfast.

"Quite the cook you are."

Milla hears Chan's voice from the kitchen entrance, wearing only his close-fit t-shirt and a pair of shorts, reaching up to his knees, "Thank you. I already knew how to mix material and ingredients together before meeting Lilac and Carol, but Lilac helped me improve, a lot actually." she explains.

"Heh, you and your friends never cease to amaze me. By that I mean _all_ of your friends, like, they're just so interesting… despite the fact that some of them tried to kill me."

The hound simply makes a soft laugh in response, still worried for her captive friend.

"I see we're waking up early today." Kai infers, already dressed, "Well, when you two are done, meet me at the cave entrance. Also don't forget to bring some supplies, I've already done my part." The husky abruptly leaves the laboratory.

"He's not wasting time, ain't he? He has a point though." Chan observes

"You're right, let's go." Milla agrees.

Both hound and fox gets dressed and prepare themselves for the mission ahead. After preparations were made, they both went up the elevator and meets Kai at the surface, who impatiently waited for them, leaning against an iron support beam with a couple of tools and supplies with him.

"What are those for?"

"Well, we've gotten pretty far from the Red Scarves' Base, so we need some form of transportation." Kai explains.

"You know where we can get vehicles?" Chan asks.

"Of course, just when we get there please stay quite."

Kai begins to depart the cavern with the others following behind, wondering what the husky meant. After about a half hour of walking through the bamboo forest, the party noticed a lack of Red Scarves. The youths can only cautiously look around to see if there's any danger around, however the creek remains silent, the sun had began rising and the orange glow gave a calm ambience. Milla wondered what time it really was, it was about 6:13 when she woke up, yet sunrise was still upon them.

"This is the longest sunrise I've seen, how long ago did we woke up?" Milla asks out of dry curiosity.

"I think about forty-five minutes ago or so." Kai answers in a soft voice, likely the softest the basset hound was likely going to hear from the stoic husky.

"I believe at this time of year, daytime start at around six-thirty in the morning?" Chan informs, "The autumn equinox wasn't very long ago."

"True, I suppose we chose a perfect time to do this."

The youths approaches what appears to have been a house at the side of a massive lake, Milla looks around and recognizes the area, _Oh…_

 _It's this lake… Why are we here? Who's house is this?_

"Hey Chan, remember that _neighbor_ I was talking about when we first entered the Red Scarves' HQ?" Kai mocks in a soft voice.

"Yes, is this her house?"

"Pretty much, we need some quick transport to the HQ, so we're going to _borrow_ their motortrikes."

"What?! What kind of neighbor are you?! You don't just steal their stuff like that!" Milla protests.

"Are you seriously being moral _now_?!" Kai counters maintaining his previously soft tone, as he tries to calm the opposing hound, "How would you even know how neighbors should treat each other?"

"I mean… like…"

"I figured, unless you're protesting because you don't know how to ride a motortrike."

"Of course not, well… I never rode one…"

"Thankfully, there's three wheels so you won't fall."

"Very funny. You said _Their_?"

"Yeah, Maria Shanmao, Danny Brock and Xander Lykos lives here."

"Hmmm, though I still didn't appreciate that joke you made." Chan announces in a calm tone.

"It wouldn't matter, Maria kinda swings for the other gender, of course those are the rumors I've heard and I'm pretty sure only her friends would truly know if it's true or not. Also given Hanna's behavior about the topic, I can easily tell that she actually does. This isn't the time to be discussing political correctness or morals, though."

The youths find three motortrikes in a separate garage, the door was locked, to be expected. Kai grabs some tools and began picking the lock.

"I thought we were trying to be inconspicuous… Aren't they going to notice that someone broke into their garage?" Chan questions.

"I'll put everything the way it was, also just for fun, I'm going to give them a nice surprise." Kai explains.

"This plan is just bad… we could be already at the Red Scarves Hideout!" Milla argues.

"Look, can both of you just shut up!"

Kai successfully opens the way into the garage, then disabling any security throughout the structure. After the garage was safe to enter, each youth mounts on a motortrike.

As Milla views the foreign vehicle she gives off a quizzed look, she obviously didn't know how to drive, unlike Kai and Chan who sat comfortably on the trikes. The hound didn't say anything, she felt a mixed feeling of reluctance and anxiety, _Come on, this is for Norah. Like, you've seen Carol drive her motorcycle all the time, you've even been on it and seen how she drove._

 _How different can this be, it should be easier right? More wheels equals easier? Right, right? Right._

Milla starts the engine, she begins to breathe in an attempt to remain calm with her heart racing, _This isn't too bad, so it's my first time driving, what's the worse that could happen…_

 _I could crash and blow up in a ball of fire, or fall into the river and either get crushed or drown…_

… _oh god…_

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Milla not here! Let's carefully move these trikes away from where they can hear us, thankfully i also hacked into the garage door, I'm surprise they actually got this old building functional again." Kai quickly explains, however it was too late. Milla had her hands gripped tight to the handles, starts the vehicle and accidentally drives off. Both boys was sure to check if the neighboring scarves remained asleep after Milla's mistake, thankfully they did. The husky sighs in response, "Forget moving these things, let's just drive out of here, I'll close the garage door on the way out."

Kai and Chan quickly drives after Milla who was last seen driving through the bamboo forest with little control over her vehicle, "You think she's alright?" Chan asks in a worried tone.

"Perhaps having Milla ride one of these things was a very bad idea, I should've known this was her first time driving."

The two males continue to drive down the path Milla left behind, thankfully it was leading towards the Red Scarves' Hideout, eventually they could hear the sound of a running engine. Kai and Chan is caught by surprise when they see Milla boosting past them, having a time of her life.

" _wooooohoooo!_ "

"What the hell?!" The husky and fox simultaneously spat, quickly halting along with the basset hound, whose hair was messier than usual.

"I can understand why Carol enjoys this now!" Milla acknowledges, "Though we should get going, we have to save Norah!" her tone became serious suddenly however remained enthusiastic.

Kai and Chan remains speechless, Milla tilts her her in confusion as a response to her allies' expressions. "You know a moment ago you were melancholy and angry, now you're suddenly expressive?!" Kai argues.

"You think I'm not angry?! Of course I'm still angry, I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't to save Norah!"

Kai remains silent, Chan intervenes and changes the subject, "I see you've gotten the hang of that trike." he observes.

"mhm, It's actually not that hard, I should get one… not sure what I'll do with it, maybe just leave it with Carol's motorcycle, wherever she leaves it…"

"Perhaps, I could help you with that when all of this is over." Chan suggests.

"That'll be great!"

"Excellent!" Chan assures, Kai gags in response. The fox then began to ponder to himself, _Something is wrong, Milla is acting strange. There's something she's not telling us, no can just stop being angry about something like this, and that quickly too. Kai might not have the empathy to understand…_

 _...but I can tell she's suppressing her negative emotions._

* * *

The party arrives at the parameter of the large complex which housed hundreds of Red Scarves and their imprisoned ally. After surveying the surrounding area they park the stolen motortrikes in a hidden area that was outside the Red Scarves' line of sight and to which they can safely retreat.

"In case things go out of control, we know where to go." Kai states, with his other allies nodding in agreement, "To be quick, we should split into two groups, one person can rescue Norah, while the other two retrieves her equipment."

"I'll rescue Norah." Milla suggests, "I'll be able to find her faster!"

"I agree, you've known her longer, I'm sure you've recognized her scent and energy signature by now."

"I suppose we'll retrieve her stuff then, also… I must ask…" Chan starts in response.

"Yes."

"Don't you find it strange that they would keep Norah, obviously they must be expecting us…"

"...however something is wrong…" Kai finishes, but stops for a moment. _I've considered all the possibilities, I know that girl have to be some kind of importance… She was born from an aristocratic family… She was born and raised in Shuigang… She's capable of energy…_

… _energy manipulation…_

… _She's not Móshù shī…_

… _She's from the origin kingdoms…_

 _...Impossible?! I refuse to believe that crap!_

Both Milla and Chan notices Kai's suddenly annoyed expression, they remain silent, waiting for Kai to return to reality.

"What's with the faces?" Kai demands, the hound and fox didn't make a response and therefore he disregards their expressions, "Let's go, you two are good with grappling hooks, right?"

"So we're going to climb up?" Milla asks.

"No choice, they've locked down the facility and I'm sure all of the hidden entrances are also guarded."

"I understand."

"It's likely we'll be discovered anyways." Chan muses, "Even if we enter unnoticed… It's only a matter of time before someone notices us, the Red scarves are crafty fellows."

"We'll have to take that risk."

"Alright then."

The three youths throw their respective grappling hooks, that Kai had provided previously, and began climbing up the towering walls into the Red Scarves' HQ. When they reach the top they notice a patrolling scarf heading their way, the husky prepared his rifle; when the man notices the group of youths, Kai shoots him with an electric charged bullet, knocking him unconscious. Milla notices the other patrolling scarves' sudden curiosity through the sound of their movements, she immediately comes to the conclusion that they might have been caught. Chan takes notice of Milla's apprehension and makes a gesture, signalling her to look again as the sentries loses interest.

"Alright the catacombs holds all of the Red Scarves' prisoners." Kai explains as he carefully points towards the northwestern tower, which stood north of their current position, "That tower is you closest and easiest way into those cells, good luck… you'll need it."

Milla nods in response, she dashes towards the designated tower.

Kai and Chan carefully scale down the wall into the courtyards, trying to avoid being noticed, after reaching the bottom of the walls they hurry to the armory. As the group run towards the armory along the walls, hidden in their towering shadows, they both take notice of the central tower which loomed over the courtyard. The large tower was no different than the other buildings in material, but they notice the large mosaic window from a distance, Kai scowls at the building in question.

"That's Jai's tower, isn't it?" Chan analyses.

"Indeed, that bastard have a knack for watching over the other scarves like he's the only one in charge." Kai responds.

"I wonder why is that. Though what else are you thinking about?"

"Let's just move on." Kai digresses.

The two boys swiftly runs across the desolate courtyards. Most of the scarves were sleeping and only the highest ranked veterans were awake, patrolling the area; the seniors were either at their own homes or searching for new recruits; the leaders were likely awake, however more focused on their own business; any lower ranked scarves were usually still sleeping at this time. Kai and Chan dashes past the beige and red halls, neutralizing any unfortunate veterans who got in their way. However they were halted after reaching the entrance to the armory, which was located at a chamber, about twenty-four feet in diameter and was supported by several pillars. Leaning against one of those pillars was Spade who appears to have been expecting the youth's arrival.

"I'm glad you both finally got here, I knew Milla would go save that brat." Spade informs his opponents, "I'll make a deal, Kai stays and I'll let the magic fox boy go."

Kai and Chan simply remain in fighting stance.

"You want you heads in a platter then?"

The husky loosens his stance, which catches the fox next to him by surprise. "In second thought I'll take you on that offer." The husky explains.

"Why should I believe you?" Spade questions.

"I don't expect you to."

Spade simply loosens his stance in return, allowing the fox to pass by, leaving both Spade and Kai to themselves. Chan slowly walks into the armory, _I hope you know what you're doing, Kai._

"I wouldn't have pegged you as someone who would give up so easily." Spade states, however it takes the cavy a few moments to realize the husky's true motives. Out of pure instinct, Spade dashes away from Kai's sudden explosive round quickly taking cover behind one of the pillars, destroying one of the pillars, the events prior occured in an instant. The husky then breaks the doorknob to the door behind him with his sniper rifle.

"Now we won't have any interruptions, don't think I haven't forgotten about last time." Kai proclaims.

"Rrrgh, you're quick with that rifle, but if you want to do this the hard way, fine then!" Spade scowls, "I'll gladly drag your dead corpse out of here myself."

Spade throws a barrage of card directly at the husky, who takes cover behind the pillar across from Spade's, however the cavy was faster and predicted Kai's movement, aiming toward the husky's new position.

Kai in a new position, aims his rifle at Spade and shoots, stoically taking each individual hit as he shoots his own barrage of projectiles. The cavy takes cover behind another pillar, as Kai does the same.

The two scarves exchange projectiles at each other as they take cover, the fight was already at a stalemate and continues the same cycle. Both scarves need to find a way to give themselves an advantage.

Kai draws one of his pistols and aims very carefully at one of the metallic plates which supported the large concrete pillars that acted as both the cavy and husky's cover.

Spade takes notice of Kai's supposed distraction and throws several card at the husky, as the cards injures his target's arm, the bullet that Kai shot ricochets from one of the metallic plates down into Spade's leg. The cavy grunts in response and attempts to dash to safety, however his escape falls short. With his left leg now bleeding out from Kai's bullet, Spade remains stationary only able to limp back to his former cover as he tries to stop the bleeding.

"Not doing so well there, huh?" Kai infers.

"I should say the same for you." Spade counters.

Kai glares at his semi-immobile arm, "It's only one arm, I can still shoot with the other. I can't say the same for your leg."

Spade snaps his tongue in response, he can't evade properly, he had only one choice now, that was to attack Kai head on. The husky had anticipated this move and switches to one of his pistols with his good arm, shooting at the desperate cavy. What Kai hadn't anticipated was with a quick movement of his good leg, Spade manages the dodge the first round bullets from the husky's pistol which put him in close enough range so that he can attack before Kai is able to reload his pistols. The husky in response grabbed his hunter's knife as a quick form of self-defense, however his efforts proves fruitless as he is easily overpowered by Spade's stronger melee attack.

"Heh, you're not so tough when you're not in a safe distance." Spade mocks as he looms over the subdued canine, all Kai could do is exchange a scolding expression at his victorious adversary, awaiting the inevitable, however…

Suddenly a figure appears in front of Spade blocking his attack with his sai.

"Get out of the way, Rob!" Spade scowls.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that" Rob responds, he then switches his focus on Kai, "You go aid Chan in the armory, I'm sure he'll need your help."

"I didn't need your help…" the husky responds with disappointment.

"This isn't the time to be prideful. Now go!"

Kai rushes to Chan's aid holding on to his immobilized arm.

"So, you're betraying the Red Scarves, huh?" Spade accuses.

"In the contrary, I think I'm helping the Red Scarves. We maybe assassins and thieves but we're not monsters and we don't execute people whenever we please!" Rob counters.

"Who do _you_ think you are, to make that kind of decision, though I didn't expect a joker like you to be so philosophical."

"You don't know me at all, either way, I'm not here to fight you… at least initially."

"If you think you can convince me otherwise then you're dreaming." Spade snurls of blind anger.

The opposing hare simply sighs in disappointment, "I guess I have no choice then."

* * *

In the armory Chan searches for Norah's clothes and energy crystals, however all he can see are rows of swords and spears, armor and baldrics, as well as bows, throwing weapons and firearms. The large variety of weapons impressed the fox but he had to be quick, for all he knew there could easily be a couple scarves coming to gather supplies. The moment the vulpine heard footsteps he grabbed the handle of his sword in self-defense with one hand as the other is put inside a pouch where he kept his smoke bombs.

" _hehehe, So we meet again,_ " Chan hears a familiar voice which results in him softening his stance.

"It's you, are you going to tell me what Jai plans to do with Norah… she's not in the catacombs isn't she?"

" _You know, you're a lot more clever than you look, sadly I can not tell you Jai's intentions. I will say that you are right about the panda girl not being in her prison cell anymore, but I won't reveal her location either._ "

"Why don't you meet me in person? You do realize that your attempt at eluding me and using my hearing against me isn't bearing any fruit"

Icarus simply walks in front of the opposing fox, with his naginata equipped, "Alright, but you do realize you won't escape without a fight, especially if you thought you can just infiltrate our HQ like this."

"To be fair, I'm sure the lack of scarves benefits us just the same."

"Indeed, it's imperative that most of the scarves aren't aware of Jai's intentions, that include the leaders too."

Chan draws his sword in response as Icarus is the first to attack by thrusting his spear directly at him, thankfully Chan avoids the assault with a quick step backwards. However his assailant attacks again, aiming towards his feet in an attempt to break his balance.

In contrary to his opponent's intentions, Chan performs a single backflip and then counter attacks as the hawk tries to pull out his wedged spear, in response Icarus uses the handle of his spear to block Chan's attack, then using it as leverage to kick the fox a few feet away from his person, buying him time to pull out his weapon. The vulpine summons a powerful gust of wind towards the seemingly immobile hawk, causing the collection of weapons and armor to collapse and scatter throughout the entire armory.

 _Perhaps that wasn't the wisest of decisions on my part_ , Chan admits to himself, suddenly Icarus appears among the wreckage and began thrusting his spear at the unsuspecting fox; Chan is unable to avoid the first attack, injuring the side of his stomach, however proved more successful at avoiding the other attacks despite his injury.

The constant attacking from Icarus, causes Chan to slowly step backwards as his opponent tries to pressure him into making a critical error. The vulpine returns with a thrust of his sword which the hawk ducks under; the failed attack left an opening for the hawk to strike however the counter attack was easily snuffed out when the fox followed with a powerful spin attack creating a small whirlwind which breaks Icarus' combo.

Chan takes advantage of the situation and attacks again however his opponent had expected this and responds by thrusting his spear in defense, digging into the fox's right shoulder; the hawk quickly makes use of this opportunity by using his **COMBUSTION** affinity in an attempt to finish off the stunned vulpine however Chan quickly pulls out the naginata and attempts to cushion most of the impact with his sword. The force of the explosion knocks both fighters from each other, Chan takes most of the damage from the combustion causing him to drop his sword.

Icarus did not hesitate to attack the vulnerable vulpine, as he jumps forward and strikes the vulpine, Chan quickly uses one of his smoke bombs to escape his vicious assault.

"What happened! Not as confident! I should've informed you that I went easy on you back at the sewers!" Icarus arrogantly mocks.

Chan falls down from the ceiling and drop kicks Icarus, forcing the hawk to let go of his own weapon as he's knocked backwards, he grabs the spear in response as Icarus breaks his fall in a crouching position.

"What do you expect to do with my naginata, please tell me." Icarus taunts.

"I don't plan to use it, I don't consider it honorable to fight with my opponent's weapon, I prefer to use my own." Chan states as he returns the spear by throwing it at the hawk, however as Icarus retrieves his weapon he feels sudden surge of electricity running through his body, knocking him out.

"I figured you'll need help." Kai explains, as he points his rifle down after electrocuting the unconscious avian. After un-equipping his rifle, Kai grabs his arm indicating severe injury.

"You got badly injured, it seems." Chan observes trying to sustain his own injuries as he retrieves his sword. Before continuing he notices a set of lockers, he breaks into one with his sword, revealing Norah's clothes and energy crystals, however the energy crystals lacked an instrument in order for the panda to use them. "Seems they were smart enough to remove them from their bracelets."

"Let's take them anyways, she might be able to still use them and we can find a way to get new bracelets for her."

Chan nods in response, "Also we should get to Milla, _right now_."

"So Icarus _did_ tell you something interesting."

"It seems Norah isn't in the catacombs at all, Milla might be walking into a trap!"

* * *

Milla was walking towards the catacombs via the northwest tower, when she finally reaches the basement level, where she notices two Red Scarves who were guarding the entrance, _How am I going to get past those guards?_

Fortunately for her a red scarf was coming her way, this was her chance to get past the guards. As the scarf made his rounds, Milla ambushes him, pressing her sword against his neck. "I'm not going to hurt you." she assures.

"I know you won't, but that doesn't mean I will let you into the catacombs!" the scarf argues, remaining calm under the current circumstances.

"That's fine." Milla sighs, "I'm so sorry."

"Wait, wh-" The scarf responds but the second Milla puts her hand on his heads he momentarily goes blank,

 _You're going to pretend that you've caught me trying to sneak into the base and you went sent to take me to a cell in the catacombs, come up with any excuse you can think of. When we get past the guards you'll let me go and take a well deserved nap._

The scarf puts Milla's arms behind her back, who was making sure that the scarf was still in physical contact with her so she can maintain control, and began taking her to the catacombs. The two veterans notice the scarf and Milla, "Hey what's the big idea?" one guard demands.

"I found Milla Basset sneaking into the complex via the wall." The scarf explains as Milla keeps her head down and face hidden.

"Well then, I suppose that makes sense, if she's here though, does that mean that Kai Xin and Chan Fokkusu is close by?" the other guard asks.

 _Don't give them any hints._

"Probably, but I can't say for sure."

"You can pass then." The first guard assures, "We'll just have to inform the leaders about their arrival."

When both the scarf and Milla enters the catacombs, the scarf who escorted the basset hound safely, went into a deep sleep. Milla found herself exhausted from controlling the scarf, _I hate using that ability, not only does it uses up most of my energy but I just hate being able to control people like that even on those machines because they're still living things inside of them._

Milla began to follow Norah's scent throughout the catacombs until she finally locates the cell she was kept in, however to the basset hound's dismay there was no one, she felt a mixture of anger and terror in response, "Where are you Norah! Norah! NORAH!" she calls as she frantically dashes across the long hallways until she found a large chamber with more cells, or at least _re-purposed_ rooms.

Milla notices a familiar female fox in front of her, "Hanna!" she calls, however the face she received from the vulpine was opposition, the hound immediately stops and goes into a defensive position.

"Looking for your panda friend?" Hanna asks in a mocking tone.

Milla took offense, "If you know where she is, TELL ME NOW!" she demands.

"Oh, it seems you're catching a bit of an attitude dear, well sorry to say, but I don't know where that aristocratic brat is."

Milla already knew what this meant, so she already drew her sword and prepares a shield on the opposite arm, "If you don't know where she is, then get out of my way! I don't want to fight you!"

"Quite the hypocrisy! Besides it doesn't matter! I'm not letting you escape!" Hanna scowls as she springs into action retracting her claw, pouncing directly at the defending hound.

Milla responds by lifting her energy shield in front herself, however the opposing fox changes her attack strategy as she jumps over the defending hound and follows by quickly kicking the hound at the face, Milla is unable to react to Hanna's swifter attacks. Already down on the floor, injured with her head aching from severe pain, Milla slowly gets up as her opponent quickly attempts to subdue her by pouncing straight at her as though she was her prey, however as Hanna got close enough to Milla, with a kick of both of her feet she fired a powerful psychic blast which pushes the fox several feet away from the hound. Hanna breaks her fall and lands on all fours with her front claws grinding across the beige concrete. Milla, now running on all fours, went on the offensive as she began the lunge directly at Hanna and strike her with her katana, however Hanna simply move to the side and avoids the attacks, as the fox uses one of her nunchakus to grab on the blade of the sword, disarming the hound.

Milla wasn't defeated yet as she began to fire a barrage of powerful psychic blasts which Hanna avoids as she runs across the room and then charging directly at the hound, who, even continues to blindly fire at the fox, who simply sidesteps out of the way of each attack.

When Hanna gets close enough to her opponent she grabs on to one of Milla's arms so she can't attack and then use one of her nunchakus as makeshift handcuffs to subdue the young hound.

"Just give up already." Hanna advises, "You can't beat me!"

"I don't care! I just want to save my friend!" Milla proclaims, as she exerts strong psychic energy which creates strong heat and causes Hanna to drop her weapon, out of pure reflex Milla punches the opposing fox as hard as she can which was significantly strong due to the psychic energy emanating from her hands.

Milla now had the upper hand, however the hound refused to attack the vulpine, instead she simply gave a disappointed expression.

"You're going… to regret… that!" Hanna coughs behind her snarling, "I will never forgive YOU OR YOUR FRIENDS FOR WHAT YOU DID TO LEXI!" she then screeches.

"We… we're not responsible-" Milla tries to explain, however her explanation was caught on deaf ears when Hanna interrupts her.

"SHUT UP! LIKE I'LL BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU SAY!" The fox yells, it was now obvious to Milla that there was nothing she could do to convince Hanna otherwise, the vulpine then retracts her claws once more and lunges at Milla however a gust of wind appears which crashes the fox against the hard concrete floor, knocking her unconscious.

"Chan?! Kai?!" Milla notices.

"Well that's a new extreme for even Hanna." Kai observes, "What the hell is her damage?"

"Leave her alone! It's not her fault, it's not Spade's either! They just wanted to avenge someone they cared about, and someone took advantage of that!"

"She's right, and I actually know who's behind it all." Chan reveals, "When I first fought Icarus in the sewer tunnels, he revealed that he was the one who murdered Lexi, and Jai was the mastermind behind it all, though it seems there's more to her murder than we know."

"Wait, so Jai is behind this whole mess, he actually plotted Lexi's murder and had Icarus do the dirty work." Kai infers, "That doesn't explain why all the evidence points to me. We can infer that Icarus deliberately allowed himself to be followed so the rest of you can take the fall with me, which by the way how could you have fell for something like that anyways."

"Well, he was trying to help, also have you considered that someone could've stolen your pistols?" Milla sasses.

Kai remains silent, he had no response to what Milla had just said, _Did I just got out smarted by Milla of all people_ , the husky facepalms in embarrassment.

"It seems I just thought of something that Kai didn't." Milla taunts.

"You guys do realize where Norah might actually be?" Chan asks.

"Yes, if Jai is the one behind all of this crap then we can safely assume that she's inside Jai's tower." Kai infers "How cliche."

"Then we should confront Jai then, let's go NOW!" Milla urges

"Agreed."

All three youths exits the chamber leaving Hanna unconscious, however they're unaware of the presence who was listening over to their conversation.

Now that they knew their destination, where they could find their lost friend, they rushed over to the large tower which overlooked the entire complex. The structure held their friend but also housed the man responsible for all of the grief the Red Scarves had went through. They ignored the scarves they saw in the courtyard they simply remained focus on that tower, passing by everyone and neutralizing anyone who stood in their way.

At the entrance of the tower they were met with four veterans who were led by Icarus, who held his naginata in opposition.

The youths remain silent as Chan summons another blast of wind but this gust was stronger than before, he was determined to save Norah as much as Milla, the wind subdues all five assailants blasting them against the tower wall. After that the youth ran up the several flights of stair where they fought scarf after scarf, no matter how much the scarves tried, they couldn't break the youth's determination and motivation, when they finally reach the entrance to Jai's chamber they thought for a moment on what they're about to face, they didn't know if Norah was alive or not, nor did they know if they can even compete with Jai, they could already assume that Jai was a leader for a reason, and as a dragon they were already aware of his capabilities.

Milla, Kai and Chan opens those large doors and prepare themselves for the fight ahead.


	11. Legacy of the Red Scarves

**-11-**

Milla, Kai and Chan enters the living chamber through it's foreboding doors, as the entrance opens, a burst of cold air rushes through the group which gave an eerie ambience. As the party cautiously enters the room in response the double doors is quickly slammed shut due to the rush of cold air emanating from the room, the chamber itself was so cold that Milla and her companions could see their breath.

In front of them was a youth, the group was disturbed by the scene, the youth was in fact Norah, she had cuts and bruises across her body, some of them had became dried plasma, while some was fresh; she was chained to the floor by the wrists.

The basset hound hurried to the panda's aid, horrified at her condition, "NORAH!" she cries.

Norah began coughing heavily, "Took you guys long enough." she spoke in a raspy and rigid voice, following with hollowed laughter.

When Kai and Chan followed the hound towards the center of the chamber they saw the panda girl's injuries in greater detail. Slashes and claw marks was scattered throughout her body, the bruises centered around her ankles, wrists, neck and face. The bruises on her neck showed signs of strangulation which would explain her raspy voice, her skin was as cold as ice, and pulse was slower than usual however she showed minor signs of hyperthermia.

"How long have you been in this freezer, wearing only that," Chan asks, noticing that Norah only wore a tank-top and capris, in a room that was felt like it was at freezing temperature.

Norah coughs again, "I'd say all night, heh, so they were actually smart enough to remove the crystals from their bracelets" she sniffs.

"Let's go, this place is seriously giving me the creeps." Kai suggests.

"Come on Norah, let me help you up!" Milla urges.

"Give me those crystals first." Norah counters, after Chan hands over the **FIRE** energy crystals to her, the panda girl summons a swirl of blue fire which surrounds the group as their injuries are healed. Norah is unable to fully heal herself due to the severe injuries she had sustained and lack of focus, however she was at least capable of walking.

"Interesting, that's one nice ability you have there!" Chan muses.

"It's the least I can do, however my injuries are too severe for me to completely heal myself, however I can now walk and my voice sounds better. As for combat, I'm pretty much useless to you guys as of this moment."

" _Welcome my esteemed guests!_ "

The youths quickly turn their attention towards the wyvern who stood in front of the mosaic window which lit up most of the room. Jai was met with an assortment of outraged expressions, which he had expected.

" _You know it's rude to not greet your host back_ "

"You honestly think we're going to offer you any courtesy after _what you've done_?!" Kai snarls, for the first time expressing full emotions, however of pure anger.

Jai slowly walks down the stairs towards the youths.

"What you've done is a disgrace not to _just the scarves but to your kind_!" Chan argues

Jai finally reaches the bottom as he looms his eyes directly at the basset hound who stood in the middle of the group standing in front of the injured panda girl, in Norah's defense.

" _ **We'll never forgive you for what you've done!**_ " Milla scowls

As Milla spoke something caught the wyvern's eye, something that he had inherently been expecting, he simply smiles, both pleased by said anomaly and amused by the youth's resolve. _So, you also have it flowing through your veins, pumping through your heart, and gleaming through your_ _ **eyes**_ _._

Suddenly, Milla was the first to attack as she swings her sword blindly at the man who scoffed at her, however Jai vanishes. The defending wyvern appears behind the offending hound in an instant, grabbing on to her hair, dragging and tossing her across the room.

"You seem too distracted young basset hound, perhaps you should stay like a good dog. You won't go anywhere by blindly attacking me like that." Jai taunts, then facing towards the husky.

Kai had already aimed his rifle at the wyvern by then and began shooting at him, however like Milla, his attacks proved ineffective.

Jai had already reached melee distance in a blink of an eye, carefully grabbing on to the husky's firearm so that the muzzle of the rifle wasn't aiming towards him, as he then punches Kai's underbelly repeatedly, knocking him down as the dragon holds on to the collar of his jacket and tosses him towards Milla, pinning her to the floor.

"The husky appears to lack cooperation, who's always in conflict with his comrades." Jai muses.

Chan is quick to confront the dragon with several cartographed attacks with his sword. The fox's technique impressed the dragon, however Jai had successfully avoided all of his attacks, it looked almost as though the sword had went through him, like he wasn't a tangible being. The vulpine attempts to summon a gust of wind to subdue the dragon however it didn't phase Jai at all.

The vulpine's shock was the perfect opening for Jai to strike with his ninjato, slashing the fox's injured shoulder and then kicking him in the jaw which knocks him back towards his defeated peers.

"For such wise fox, you're not very bright… you should know that as a wyvern I'm naturally resistant to any wind, wood is my element after all." Jai explains.

Norah simply stood helpless, as she witnesses the defeat of her allies, frustrated at her inability to fight.

"You speak as though you have resolve, however your words holds no weight."

All three youths simply look up at the superior fighter, they were grossly out matched, and there was nothing they could do.

"Don't fret, I have no reason to kill you _now_ , I only needed to subdue you."

"Why would you spare us?" Kai questions, slowly getting up along with Milla and Chan.

"Because I have my reasons."

"Why… Why would you do all of this!" Milla demands, with tears flowing through her eyes, "Why did Lexi have to die?! Why did Norah have to be tortured?! What kind of monster are you?!"

"Heh, those are very good question, however the answer is fairly simple, it's simply to keep things under control."

Milla remains confused, "What do you mean by 'control'?" she asks.

"As you might have noticed either from your interactions with Sash Lilac and Carol Tea, or you confrontations towards Spade, Icarus or Hanna Skarlett, the Red Scarves have always acted as a sort of 'second chance'."

"You've got to be kidding me, so what, the Red Scarves is charity case?" Kai mocks.

" _hehehe_ oh, no. I'm not that naive and I'm not going to keep you ignorant of such matters. That's what a Red Scarf veteran would tell you. In reality the Red Scarves selects anyone who can be given such empty promises, so in a way when a high ranking veteran or in most cases a senior recruits you the first thing they would want to know, is the current situation you're in or your desires, they will always look for those who have shown resentment towards their kingdom and desperation for survival or desire."

"So, they simply look for anyone weak minded enough to actually believe such lies!" Chan argues, he wasn't pleased with what he's hearing.

"Don't get us wrong though, eventually a they would discover the truth but usually by then they would've learned that life isn't always peaches and cream, in other words they wouldn't care. Some scarves might know the truth when they're young, in some cases honesty can prove to be very useful; however some can't accept such truths and would eventually try to leave. Honestly I can forgive Sash only because she's kin, the likes of Carol or Raiku can never be forgiven, especially after what we've done for them."

"What you've done for them?! All you've done is manipulate and corrupt them, I don't blame them for abandoning the scarves at all!" Chan counters.

"So not only have you tricked the scarves into believe what they're doing is right, but you're also biased!" Norah scowls.

"What about Lilac and Carol! What happen with them and the Red Scarves!" Milla demands.

"They simply knew too much at the wrong time, an _error_ on Spade's part." Jai reveals.

"What did you do with Spade!" Norah then demands.

"Nothing, joining the scarves was his own doing, I didn't force him, just like how no one forced anyone into the scarves, unless you're like Danny Brock or Lexi Kyokan where your family is part of the scarves, of course."

"That's a lie!"

"Oh, so why do you think he joined the scarves, because I can easily tell you the answer."

Norah remains silent.

"It's fairly simple: his life, legacy and perspective was a lie. Although to you he's the prince of Shuigang, in reality he's nothing more than a bastard, a peasant doomed to live his life in obscurity. With that said, how could anyone blame him?!"

Norah clutches her teeth hearing mild signs of sarcasm in Jai's distinct voice, then Milla steps up in her defense, "Shut up! You don't have the right to talk about people like that!"

"Don't be so foolish, it's the truth, I never had a reason to lie, however... Spade have gotten reckless and insolent recently."

"So that's why you had Lexi murdered." Chan infers, "Spade was escaping your control, so you had her killed, she made the perfect martyr for the scarves, especially Spade!"

"I had a feeling it wasn't just Spade, you've been treating everyone in the scarves as your puppets." Kai continues, "You tried to have me killed because you knew I was getting on to you, I must admit I'm impressed, you definitely make sure there's no loose ends."

"I'm glad we can agree on something, but 'puppet' would be more appropriate for the leaders, I personally see most of the scarves as my pawns, Spade is my knight, Icarus is my bishop." Jai continues.

"So, this is like a game to you?!" Milla protests, "I don't care what you call them, 'pawns' or 'puppets', it's still wrong."

"It appears Sash have gotten to you, but you must understand that whatever Sash Lilac have told you in the past is hypocrisy on her part, but she will never admit it, her good deeds is nothing more than acts of pity."

Milla began to lose her patience she then clenched the handle of her katana, the blade is imbued with strong psychic energy, which flared sporadically indicating loss of control.

The other youths noticed something strange about the hound, usually she would try to see the good in people however she truly hated Jai, never before have Milla felt so much hatred towards someone. To her friends she was entirely different person.

Charging at the wyvern at full force she thrusts her sword at him, as though she was trying to kill him, however like before the dragon was too fast.

Jai knew that Milla was much more versatile than before, so in response he dragon boosts direct at the hound which results in Milla dropping her sword as she falls down onto the floor, leaving an opening for the dragon to attack with his ninjato, however…

… _What… I'm still alive…_

Milla returns to her senses when she notices a figure between Jai's attack and herself: it was Spade. The wyvern's blade pierces clean through the left side of the cavy's stomach however it was enough to shield the helpless hound.

Spade's action had left everyone petrified and in shock, even Jai wasn't expecting the cavy's interference, "Imbecile…" Jai scalds.

"You're the bastard responsible for Lexi's death, and if you think you can just control me like some chess piece, think again." Spade coughs.

"Fine then, normally I would kill you instantly, however for the sake of being my former prodigy, I'll at least give you chance to survive."

"Damn… I try to do one good thing… and this… is what I get…"

Jai abrasively kicks Spade off of his blade.

The youths are speechless at Jai's treatment of his own student, who currently laid down as he bleeds out, Norah rushes to the cavy's aid, trying her best to heal him, however she is too weak. "Come one! Heal!" Norah cries, "DAMNIT HEAL! HEAL!"

"It's no use, we have to take him to hospital!" Chan reasons.

"Like they'd take a Red Scarf into the hospital."

"Maybe we can ask the Royal Magister, I'm sure I can convince him to help." Milla assured.

"Before you leave, I'd like to give you youths a second chance, I'm looking forward to how you can improve the next time we meet." Jai states, however his accent made it difficult to tell rather he was being sarcastic or not.

"What are you talking about." Kai demands, as his allies tries to keep Spade from bleeding out.

"You see, in about a week, the Annual Avalician Martial Arts Championship will commence, it's pretty much tradition, however traditions change and for the first time, this year's tournament actually accepts _all_ combat methods, that means you can be swordsman, marksman, martial artist, even a mage."

"So you want us to join, why may I ask?" Chan responds.

"You'll soon find out, also there's a couple of other surprises this year from what I've heard, I'll be expecting to see you in the tournament."

"If we refuse?" Kai asks.

"What choice do you have? You should be grateful that I'm giving you this chance, if I was you I would take it."

The youths didn't know how to respond, Norah was still desperately trying to heal the mortally injured rodent despite Milla's effort to detach her away, as Chan tries his best to stop the bleeding with a makeshift bandage. Kai looks around him, he had a mixed feeling of defeat and pity, "We'll think about it…" he states, showing signs of uncertainty.

"Well then, I bid you adieu. Also you can take the secret passage which is located at the east side of this room, say hello to the Royal Magister for me." Jai concludes as he opens the entrance to said passage with a press of a hidden pressure plate.

As the youths carry the unconscious cavy with them back to the location of their trikes, one of the scarves spots them, Chan is quick to use a smoke bomb to aid in their escape.

Kai felt uneasy, because he knew that he was outsmarted, _He knew that we were coming, not only that he predicted everything._

 _He never wanted us imprisoned or dead, he wanted to use us as his scapegoats._

 _As far as we're concerned, the Red Scarves aren't going to be our allies for a while, or at least until we do something about Jai._

* * *

"Brilliant, simply brilliant! Not only did we got rid of that treacherous Spade, but those brats are going to take the blame! Brilliant!" Icarus applauds, however his enthusiasm is cut short with Jai's stoic expression.

"Indeed, everything is going according to plan, however I would like to be left alone." Jai explains.

"Well what do you want me to do about those youths, what exactly is your big plan?"

Jai makes an eerie smile that even made Icarus uneasy, "You'll find out soon enough, but until then, allow them to escape also make sure you check on our _new ally._ "

"I wouldn't exactly say new…"

Jai responds with a sharp look, obviously not interested with the hawk's smart remarks.

Icarus leaves the room, Jai muses to himself.

 _So everything is going as I've predicted… Of course my main prize won't appear for a while longer._

 _That's fine though, until then I have some interesting new developments I want to test._


	12. Reunion and Division

**-12-**

The youths drives back to Shang Tu on the their motortrikes until they reach the long flight of stairs leading to the Shang Tu Palace, it was where they first fought the group of scarves who had attacked them which resulted in the events that landed them in their current situation, it was a reminder that displeased them and made Milla guilty for pulling her friends into such danger. They park the vehicles besides the base of the stairway. As they climb up the long stairway, Milla helps Norah up by wrapping her arms around the injured panda as Chan carries an unconscious Spade on his back. Kai was walking a few feet behind the rest of his peers, troubled, he never felt this way before and he hated it. What annoyed the husky more was the situation he got himself into, he honestly don't remember why he followed Milla in the first place at this point. _Did I follow this stupid girl to prove a point, because I don't think I succeeded. Perhaps it was pity, frankly she doesn't seem to enjoy her fame, it doesn't matter, she should've expected this crap by now._

When the party finally reach the palace, Milla was the first to enter, "I'll have to explain everything to the Royal Magister, at least why they should trust you, as for _everything else_ , you'll have to help me with that… sorry…" she explains in a dry tone, the seemingly assuring smile Milla expresses didn't make the others feel reassured at all, in contrary it only made them more anxious.

Kai continues to think to himself, seeing Norah and Spade in their pathetic state sickens him, Norah likely could be healed with a health bath, however even with Spade's physical injuries healed, he would likely remain in comatose, even then he wasn't entirely sure if it would fully heal Spade's injury. The husky then thought about rather the Royal Magister would trust them or not. Chan likely would be alright, however Norah and himself were mercenaries, not exactly law abiding citizen, but criminals, outcasts or rouges, normally the canine wouldn't be as sympathetic towards someone, _I suppose Norah would be forgiven fairly easily given her aristocratic connections, for whatever reason she left her family, I'm sure that's what's going to save her ass… normally I wouldn't care rather she gets locked up or not, however she's an ally and frankly after this, she at least deserves it…_

 _I actually blame Milla for this bull s***, she's the one that dragged us into this, we didn't need to be involved with whatever crap happened between her and the Red Scarves._

Kai reaches into his pocket and his heart drops, the microchip that he promised to return to Milla was missing!

Meanwhile Chan decides to lay Spade across the stone floor, which angers Norah, so she carefully kneels down and had the unconscious cavy lay his head on her lap as she holds on to his head, she knew she couldn't really heal him with her energy crystals in their current state however touching his head pleased her. Chan was curios about Norah's motherly attitude towards Spade, however whenever he would ask, she usually would respond defensively.

After about an hour of waiting, the youths sees Milla with a large, masculine giant panda, wearing heavy armor and equipped with a massive shield.

"General Gong I presume…" Kai infers in a rather disrespectful tone, which results in Milla exchanging an angry expression.

"So your Kai Xin, Milla told me about how condescending you can be, you should be grateful the Royal Magister was kind enough to let you into his palace, given your… former association with the Red Scarves." Gong spoke in a calm tone, his voice was deep which didn't surprise the husky at all, he only responds with a grin which only annoyed his peers and made the panda general chuckle, however the general's tone changed, noticing the familiar cavy who laid in front of him, "Milla have also told us about the situation with Spade, we'll take him to the infirmary, as for you kids, you're going straight to the throne room."

A couple of guards carefully carries Spade's unconscious body into the palace, with General Gong and the party following behind them, the palace halls had blue marble floors with sky blue decor pillars which Norah jokingly compares to the Suigang Palace's, this gives the panda girl an undesired feeling of nostalgia, however her main reason for the unsettling nostalgia was because of what she was expecting at the throne room.

The youths all enter the throne room, standing by the balcony which overlooked the city was a tall man, wearing a cloak which had an assortment of different shades of blue and yellow, with blue gloves and a helmet of a similar hue which had obscured his face only revealing his purple eyes; This was the Royal Magister, no one truly knew his identity, therefore whatever was under those robes were unknown to the common person.

Next to him was a woman who had a striking resemblance to Norah, she wore a black long sleeve shirt, magenta midriffed light armor and cuffs with white out lines, a magenta skirt and black boots; wielding a icey blue stave with a **WATER** energy crystal at the tip with what appears to be two horns pointing towards the energy crystal. The woman was a panda who had beige fur, purple eyes, black blue-ish hair and was much older than Norah, this was the head palace guard Neera Li, former priestess of the Shuigang Palace.

As the youths line up in front of the Royal Magister, they bow and make their respective greetings, Norah's however was very awkward and hesitant, not only was her voice still not working properly but the moment she laid her eyes on Neera, she recognizes her immediately and tries her best to keep her eyes away, however the Magister quickly notices the young panda girl's posture and expression, he quickly deduces that the young panda girl felt uncomfortable with the older panda.

"Neera, I think it's best you leave us." the Royal Magister proclaims, noticing Neera's equally as anxious expression, an emotion he rarely saw from her, in fact it was almost off character.

"Yes, your majesty." Neera agrees.

"Uh…" General Gong starts before the Magister interrupts.

"You can accompany her." Magister assures.

The general simply bows and follows Neera to the infirmary, Kai who was the first to speak, giving out a loud deliberate cough, "It's an honor to meet you in person, however from what you've heard from either Milla or Gong, we didn't exactly came from the most desired of situations." he explains but in a stoic and apathetic fashion, he was rude and his tone annoyed the other youths, they were certain the Royal Magister would throw them in prison now. In the contrary the man simply remains calm.

"Indeed, I have already heard about your ordeal with the Red Scarves, however further detail would be appreciated. Why did you initially came here? What exactly happened with you and the Red Scarves?"

Norah, who was certain that the monotonic husky would surely have them killed, took over, shoving Kai to the side, "I apologize for my ally's tone and behavior, however to answer your first question, when we were in the Qin Empire we had uncovered a plot against the Empress and soon after unraveling said conspiracy, Empress Yazmine had sent us specifically to discuss an alliance with the three kingdoms. Our first destination was Shang Mu because we have heard that _both_ King Dail and Mayor Zao was there for diplomatic reasons and so we took the opportunity, we were however surprised about Tuanjie's appearance and by then Chan had joined our group." she explains although broad, her explanation was to the point and vocabulary was formal, her behavior surprises the Royal Magister.

"Interesting, I'm assuming you wouldn't be here if Dail and Zao hadn't agreed, though it pleases me to see someone who we thought to be our enemy or at least our rival have had a change of heart. Perhaps I'm being too bias when I call the Qin Empire a former enemy though."

"It's understandable."

"Tell me, who are you exactly? Milla Basset had described you as a rogue who had abandoned your family when you were only ten years of age."

"I'd rather not talk about it, I think I'd rather have one of my friends explain the rest for me. Also may I ask to visit the infirmary to look over Spade"

"Very Well." the Royal Magister says, however he knew the real reason why the panda girl wanted to go to the infirmary, _I can only hope that she would forgive her mother, it's not my place to interfere._

After Norah slowly walks her way to the infirmary, the other youths explains what happened in the Red Scarves' hideout, however like they promised, they kept the location of the hideout a secret. They explained how the Red Scarves was being manipulated by one of their own leaders, Jai, and the atrocities he had committed towards his own allies and subordinates. When the youths mention Jai's name it triggered a concerned expression from the Royal Magister, or at least, that's what everyone would assume.

"Tell me, do you intend to participate in the Annual Avalice Martial Arts Tournament?" Magister asks, quickly changing the topic.

"We don't know…" Milla admits, neither of her friends had a clearer answer.

"If you do… be careful, you have our support. If there's one thing I truly understand about Jai, is that he is a clever but cold man who will not hesitate to do anything in his power to achieve his goals, whatever they may be."

This wasn't new to them, it's the reason for their hesitation to participate, however at the same time they were worried about what Jai was capable of, they wasn't sure if they could compete with him.

"However do not be discouraged, you may stay here as long as you please, I'll be awaiting your decision."

The youths simply nod as the Royal Magister dismisses them, they decide to accompany Norah.

* * *

Norah was at the infirmary, the nurse quickly notices her injuries and offers help, how could the panda girl refuse. She sat on a bed where she had a good view of Spade, who only wore his pants with bandages wrapped around his stomach to cover where Jai had impaled him. _I guess we both ran away, talk about a coincidence…_

 _Is what Jai said about you, true…_

 _like I know you can't hear me, let alone read my mind…_

The young panda girl simply sits on her bed, the nurses have done a reasonable job at patching up her most severe injuries, the nurse had also kindly offered her some new clothes, though Norah refused to wear them, at least until she took her health bath. When the panda first entered the infirmary she noticed Neera Li and General Gong speaking to one another, she couldn't hear them however she could tell from Neera's expression that she was saddened and agitated while Gong tried to comfort her, in his own awkward way. The nurse explained that Gong's antics usually would cheer Neera up however this time was different.

"Is that Red Scarf important to her or something?" the nurse would ask.

"Well he was a prince of Shuigang…" Norah explains.

"Oh, so _he's_ King Dail's brother."

The nurse's comment made Norah angry, "Don't you have other people to treat" she kindly asks, trying her best to control her anger.

"Well, this isn't a hospital after all, not alot happens here, the last time someone came here in aid was that dragon girl. Times of peace don't exactly bring alot of injured soldiers or anything."

"Hmph, I guess…"

"You know miss Li, when she first came here to the palace, after announcing she had defected from Shuigang, she would always help out. She would help out on the daily routines in the palace and after the whole Brevon incident, by the Royal Magister's orders, she helped out those in need, she even would have to cooperate with some scarves at that time, of course that was only for a very short time."

 _Huh, that still doesn't change the fact that she's an awful mother…_

"I can tell you're not really interested, it's alright… at your age I'd probably wouldn't care too much about politics and chores either. Well have a good afternoon… even though it's still only morning."

 _This sucks, this really sucks, not like I wanted to see my mother again… life sucks sometimes…_

Norah sighs, she wasn't in the best mood, then she notices Neera Li walking towards her, "What do _you_ want…" she asks, obviously displeased with the priestess' presence.

"I just want to know if you're alright" Neera explains.

"You… caring about me? I'm sorry but I don't believe you…"

"So you're still angry about what happened three years ago…"

Norah doesn't respond.

"Can you at least explain to me what happened to you?" Neera insists.

"That's none of your business, besides I have a question for you…"

"Is that so, I just wanted to see if your alright I'm your mo-"

"Tell me the truth, why did Spade abandon the royal family?" Norah demands.

Neera was surprised by her daughter's question, it took her a moment before she sighs, it seems reluctance and condescendence ran in the family, however it seems when both family members express these feeling towards each other it only result in conflict. "He ran away because he wasn't of pure royal blood, he was merely Dail's half-brother, a half-prince."

This explanation angers Norah, "So that's what you think of him?! A half-prince disgrace who became criminal?!" she infers.

"Of course not!"

"Stop trying to sound like you actually cared, you never cared."

"What made you think that?!"

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't turn out like the perfect aristocratic girl you wanted!" Norah mocks in a sarcastic tone, subconsciously changing the topic.

"N-norra…" Neera's bravado was gone.

"You got nothing left to say? Huh, Mom?"

Neera simply remains silent, and decides to leave her daughter to herself, "I just want to say that the reason I was so strict then was because I've always cared…" she softly explains before leaving.

Milla, Kai and Chan enters the infirmary and met with an upset Norah, "What's wrong?" Milla asks.

"Nothing."

"That's a lie." Kai protests, "Why don't you explain to us who you really are for starters."

Norah remains silent, Milla steps in her defense, "Leave her alone!" she cries.

"Then maybe you know her full name?"

"Uh…wait, what? What does that have to do with anything?!"

"Can't answer, huh?"

"I mean, she…"

"It's curious how despite being your closest friend, you don't even know her surname." Chan muses, the conversation was making Norah uneasy.

"Milla Basset, Kai Xin, Chan Fokkusu, but Norah is the only one who haven't said her full name…" Kai insists.

"Fine!" Norah starts however her voice stops, she didn't want to be ostracized over something as minor as her name, either way the words came out, "Norah Li"

"Just as I thought, it all makes sense now."

"Interesting, of all the people to be related to… Neera Li" Chan continues.

"I guess that makes two girls that got us in the chopping block…"

"Wait… what?! Are you blaming both of us for _this_?!" Norah protests.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, though I suppose I can't entirely blame you, your relation with the Shuigang royal family was only a coincidence in this case, this is really all of Milla's fault!" Kai points directly at the hound, who is shocked at the husky's accusation.

Although a sudden surge of fear runs through Milla, that is quickly replaced with anger, "How is this my fault?!"

"I don't know about the rest of you but I didn't _need_ to join this group."

"Then why did you join in the first place?!" Milla argues, "If you really didn't care why don't you just leave?!"

"Everybody calm down!" Chan counters.

"Let him leave, see if I care." Norah retorts.

"Fine by me." Kai agrees, he simply walks out of the infirmary and asks the nurse which way to the exit.

"After everything we did for him, the ungrateful-"

"This is your fault too!" Milla interrupts, "Why didn't tell me?! I thought we were friends!"

"Does it matter! At least we're alive!"

"Yeah, but because of you we've lost our friend!"

"You're blaming me for _that_?! Damnit Milla, sometimes… sometime you can be a naive bitch! JUST GROW UP!"

Norah caught herself, she glances at Milla's teary eyes which shifted to tears of anger, she knew she had went too far, Chan remains solemnly silent.

"M-Milla… I-I didn't mean to…" Norah tries to reach her hand towards her friend.

"URGH, Shut up!" Milla scolds slapping Norah's hand away, "Just leave me alone!" she demands as she ran towards the palace exit, leaving both the panda and fox behind.

Norah simply remains still for a moment, before covering her face underneath her arms, she soon began to cry herself.


	13. Finding Determination

**-13-**

The Shang Tu Park was a large area, divided into three primary platforms or plateaus, each section displaying an arrangement of vegetation and plants, ranging from cherry blossoms to bamboo trees; this included edible food, which the officials would allow the citizens to take, so long they paid a fee. A large stone bridge connected the entrance platform to a far off plateau, on one side of the bridge was the view of a massive waterfall which flowed down into the bamboo forest several feet below which was visible from the opposite side. The third plateau which towered over the main platform was accessible via chairlift or mountain pass, the higher platform held a massive pond which generated smaller waterfalls flowing across the main platform and then pouring into Jade Creek.

Milla was sitting on one of the park benches, crying, with her arms wrapped around her leg in a sitting position, with her face hidden. Chan finds the depressed basset hound at that very park bench, for a while he remains silent, simply sitting next to his friend. It was when Milla lifts up her head, that the vulpine finally speaks.

"Did you spend all night here in this park… well, considering your specialty in survival, I'm sure this was a _walk in the park_ for you." Chan complements, with an optimistic smile, trying to cheer the canine up from her depression.

"For an entertainer, you're not very good with puns." Milla notes, despite her commentary, she did make a faint smile.

"I know, at least I got a smile out of-"

"Was this all of my fault…" Milla muses, changing her face quickly.

"Hm?"

"Kai had a point… I put everyone in danger, maybe if you guys didn't follow me… maybe none of this would've happen..."

"I suppose so."

"Sorry."

"You didn't let me finish, what I meant is that although you did put us in danger, at least it was with good intentions."

"Still."

"So you believe it was your actions that led to Norah and Spade's suffering?"

Milla doesn't respond for a while, she simply ponders for a moment, "Yes."

"I disagree, it wasn't your fault."

"How can you say that?! I was the one who agreed to go to the Red Scarves' base, it's my fault that the Red Scarves tried to kill us! It's all my fault!"

"No, that wasn't your fault."

"You may not think that, but I'm sure the others do."

"Perhaps Kai, but I believe that's only because he's frustrated, also he's admittedly arrogant."

"Tell me about it…"

"I wouldn't count him out though, also have you forgotten that Norah is your closest friend?"

Milla thinks about what happened to her friend, her face quickly becomes desolate and horrified, the image ringing fresh in her mind and the fox noticed quickly, therefore Chan decides to inform the hound about his conversation with Norah soon after she ran away:

" _Don't you think you were harsh towards both of them?"_

" _Milla, yes, I feel very bad for her, I didn't mean to offend her… Kai, who cares…"_

" _Why did you keep your identity a secret for this long?"_

" _Well… I don't know really, honestly I suppose it's because I just wanted to enjoy myself, it's honestly wasn't very fun being a priestess' daughter you know. I just wanted adventure and freedom, so I ran away… I ran away because I was tired of it all and at that time I thought I had lost my best friend forever, frankly I blamed Milla for what happened three years ago, that was until everything that happened at Qin. It was weeks after I ran away from my home at Shuigang, when Vix found me hungry in some alley, he helped me despite my refusal. Ultimately I became a mercenary and Vix's companion, he taught me everything I needed to know about energy manipulation… Funny, I wonder sometimes, did my mom really want me to learn energy manipulation, likely not at such a young age at least… though now that I think about it, maybe I actually listened to Vix's lectures because for once there was something I didn't learn from my aristocratic education. Something that made me special, something like Milla's powers, maybe I was too resilient, though frankly I truly enjoyed energy manipulation and strangely the philosophy surrounding it."_

" _Hm, you know this Vix fellow, sounds like someone from the Móshù shī."_

" _Móshù shī… why does that sound familiar?"_

" _Maybe Kai could explain that to you."_

" _Wait… what does that mean?!"_

" _In due time"_

" _Where are you going?"_

" _Gonna try to find both canines."_

" _Well, when you find Milla please tell her that it wasn't her fault that this happened to me, and hey, I actually don't mind. True some of these injuries will leave some scars, but nothing I can't handle, I just don't want her to panic, she can be a worry wart sometimes."_

" _Will do."_

"Huh, I would've never thought that she envied me…" Milla muses.

"You know, I have a suggestion." Chan mentions.

"What…"

"Perhaps you should learn more about your friends' motives and drive. With that said, why do you fight?"

"I… I don't know anymore, I originally fought for my friends, though now thinking about it… I feel like I was being selfish…"

"Perhaps you need more time, though you shouldn't give up just because you don't know, if anything that should motivate you to keep going. You know, I strive to become the world's greatest swordsman, not for wealth or fame, but because I want to use my strength and wisdom to help Avalice, to make it a better place, yes, it's unrealistic but I'm optimistic… I'm sure my parents would've been proud."

"Maybe I should try harder to know more about Kai then, maybe…" Milla concludes, afterwards she gets up from the park bench and stood in front of her vulpinic friend, "Thank you." Milla admits, whipping off the tears from her face.

"My pleasure, maiden." Chan responds with his usual cheerful demeanor, standing up and performing a courteous bow.

After their discussion, Milla and Chan agreed to have a simple walk through the part, the view was gorgeous and as they take the stone bridge back to the main platform they notice the Red Scarves' base off in the distance, they simply ignore it as they reach the miniature bamboo forest. As they walk through the thick bamboo trees both canine and vulpine notices strange sounds and wastes no time preparing themselves for anything. The sound however, stops, confusing both youths; in an instant a knife bolts straight towards Milla however Chan was quick to deflect it with his sword, the fox simply stands in a uniform fashion, well aware of the origin of the knife thrown, "Why do you always like to catch people by surprise?" he questions, "I see you're still a klepto as always, huh sis?"

"Wait… what?!" Milla responds, however quickly interrupted.

"Aww, had I known you were in Shang Tu sooner, I would've prepared!" A girl appears before both youths, she was about eight or nine years old, she looked very similar to Chan, except her fur was lighter and her hair was blonde, she had silver eyes, and the tips of her ears and tail alike was black; the girl wore what appears to be an orange formal dress and medium skirt with black and white accents, black boots and fingerless gloves; for some unorthodox reason her right sleeve was cut off and had a small arsenal of throwing knives however two larger knives were the most prominent, obviously acting as her main melee weapons. "Charlotte Fokkusu at your service!" the girl introduces as she bows, slightly lifting up the sides of her skirt, her bizarre mixture of courtesy and sass confuses Milla.

"Hi…?" Milla had nothing better to say, Charlotte was as whimsical as her brother, however she seemed more chaotic, it was noticeable and unlike Chan, who would maintain a calm and respectful demeanor while trying to be clever with his wordplay, Charlotte was hyper and blunt, lacking proper patience.

"Please to meet you Milla Basset, so have my bro already tried flirting with you?"

"Eh…"

"Charlotte are you here just to antagonize me?" Chan demands, his tone more strenuous than usual.

"I'm just saying, you have a thing for women, so I'm just stating the obvious, besides I just wanted to see if my brother really is here in Shang Tu." Charlotte explains.

"It's nice to see you too little sis, though I still don't understand why you resort to thievery, our parents would be very disappointed."

"Don't pull the whole "our parents would be disappointed" bull crap with me! I want to steal crystals for a living."

"If that's the case, then why don't you join the Red Scarves?"

"Heh, you mean those wannabes, psh, that's a funny joke, sorry brah, but I'd rather work alone."

"You're so selfish."

"You're over dignified."

"I'm trying help you!"

"I don't need your help, I've been fine living like this!"

"Where do you live, eat, sleep? That isn't living!"

Milla tries her best to stop the argument; however her words would drown under the siblings' constant bickering. No matter how much the basset hound tries to speak up it was always in vain, what truly surprises her is that Chan had lost his calm demeanor, his attitude usually would be nonchalant, this time he was frustrated and worrisome.

"Um… hey…"

No response, both brother and sister continues to argue.

"You guys…"

Milla voice continues to be drowned out.

"CAN YOU TWO JUST STOP, PLEASE!" Milla outbursts, stepping in between both Chan and Charlotte, both siblings stood silent in response, "You mentioned your parents, what happened to them?"

"Uhm, it's complicated." Chan responds.

"They're gone, simple as that." Charlotte retorts.

"You don't have to be blunt about it…"

"Stop trying to cover it up, honestly are you still afraid of the man who killed them, that you have to act so enigmatic to everyone?"

Milla stood quite, after a few minutes of silence, she decides to speak, "Well Charlotte, want to come with us back to the Shang Tu Palace?"

"Sure, just warn them that I can't promise there won't be any missing items." The fox girl agrees.

Chan nods of approval, and after an extra hour of relaxation and sightseeing, the youths decides to return to the Shang Tu Palace.

* * *

It was dusk and Kai was walking down the quiet streets of Shang Tu, the residence were cautious as the red scarf wrapped around the husky's arm signaled trouble and therefore they were sure to remain distant from him. Despite the citizens attitude towards him, Kai didn't care, instead he remain lost in his thoughts, _I can't believe those dumbasses, they want to throw their lives away, so be it, see if I care._

 _I'm arrogant, I'll admit that, but I'm not suicidal!_

 _I don't understand what drives those fools…_

"What exactly is the point of it all?" Kai speaks to himself.

"Perhaps you should ask?" A voice came from behind the husky, however he recognizes the voice.

"What are you doing here… don't you work for Jai. I'm fully aware of who you are, Vix Cole of the Móshù shī."

"You misunderstand…" Vix attempts to explain.

"Save me the bullcrap, I'm sure it was your plan for us to be in this mess. Real charming for you to betray Norah like that too." Kai acusses.

Vix simply sighs, "Funny how you supposedly have abandoned your allies, yet you're still in this city and even spoke in Norah's defense, despite your distaste for her."

Kai remain silent.

"It's true. I worked for Jai, there's nothing to say against that. However I never meant for any of this to happen, in fact I only acted as a messenger of sorts, providing Jai with as much information I can find. All I ask, is to hear me out."

"Why should I?"

"Because if you truly want to defeat Jai, or at least hinder his plans, then you need to be more cooperative than this, not to just me but to everyone else."

"I'm listening…"


	14. Preparations

**-14-**

Kai slowly walks through the quiet halls of the Shang Tu Palace, the orange glow from the sunset leaves a peaceful ambiance as the blue marble seemingly changes color to a warmer hue. As the husky carefully walks through the quiet halls, he spots Neera pacing back and forth through the halls, she appeared troubled; Kai approaches the priestess in response, "What's with the pacing… forget that, where exactly is your daughter?" he asks.

Neera simply passes by the canine before noticing his presence. Kai simply exchanges an impatient and uninterested glare at the panda, who had mutual expression, "Oh, it's you…"

"What exactly does _that_ mean?"

"I thought you left, either way what gave you such a sudden change of heart?"

"Nothing. She just owes me a favor is all."

"A favor?"

"Look, I'm not quite in the mood for this, just tell me where your daughter is."

"No need to rush, I'm just suspicious why you would suddenly come back."

"Are you gonna get on my case, I have my reasons, so if you're not going to help me then I'll find Norah myself."

"Wait!" Neera demands, as the husky simply walks away without any care.

"Thanks for nothing!" Kai sarcastically shouts.

Neera snaps her tongue in frustration as she quickly incases the husky's legs in ice.

"Alright, what exactly do you want…" Kai sighs with an impatient and agitated voice, not appreciating the course of action Neera took, however due to his recent condition he had no choice but to listen to the priestess' request.

"I don't trust you." Neera starts.

"I'm pretty sure we've already establish that." Kai retorts.

"Anyways…" Neera interrupts, attempting to ignore the husky's rude behavior and getting her point across, "However, you and Milla are the only one who can help me get through to Norah. I know this is… a rather strange request… but can you two and Fokkusu, talk to her for me?"

"Trust me, today have been filled with strange requests." Kai hints as he aims his rifle at the mount of ice which had subdued him, from his rifle he fired what appeared to have been a **FIRE** energy bullet, therefore slowly melting the ice.

Neera losing her patience, saves Kai the trouble and shatters the ice into small intricate pieces, the husky then make sure his legs is in good health, stretching and bending them. "What do you mean by that?" Neera questions.

"Nothing important."

"Fine, just so you know, if you cause any trouble, you won't get away with it and if it's related to my daughter, I'll hunt you down… if my daughter is the trouble then no difference…"

"Eh… that's quite the tough love you got there…"

"Ahem, last time I checked, my daughter went into town, looking for Milla and Chan."

"I'm starting to understand why Norah ran away now…"

Neera simply stays silent, as she watch Kai hurry towards Norah, to her surprise she sees Milla and Chan walking their way towards her, the canine and vulpine are caught off guard by the husky's presence however they were unable to greet Kai before he left.

"W-was that Kai?!" Milla asks, towards no one in particular.

"I guess so, he seems to be quite in a hurry, well at least we know he came back… sort'a" Chan muses.

"Hey who's that old lady that was with the guy that passed us?" Charlotte announces, the older youths quickly covers the girl's mouth, preventing her from speaking anything more from her mind. However their attempts were in vain as the priestess begins to walk towards the youths, taking notice of their presence.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that… To answer your question, my name is Neera Li." The panda introduced in a rather offended manner towards the younger girl.

"Please to meet you, name's Charlotte, I'm this pervert's little sister." The fox girl introduces pointing towards Chan with mischievous intent, leaving her brother simply flabbergasted by the remark.

"Anyways…" Milla interrupts, "Was that Kai who passed by, where did he go?"

"He needed to talk with my daughter for some reason, I already issued a warning though." Neera reveals before mumbling to herself, " _If the bastard does anything foolish, I'll be sure to be the first to incase him in ice._ "

"I can hear you clearly." Milla notes.

"Same." Charlotte reveals.

"Thrice." Chan continues.

Neera simply sighs in response, she then agrees to let Charlotte stay; however she stilled wondered what exactly did Kai want from Norah.

* * *

Norah was walking through the Shang Tu park searching for Milla, the lights glowed as nightfall approaches; the area was desolate, more so than usual, considering the city's small population. It was quiet, windy, chilly and the panda girl didn't like it, walking through the eere park into the large stone bridge. She sees a figure in the distance; expecting Milla, Norah shouts the basset hound's name looking for a response from the figure; the figure makes a slight movement in response, therefore the panda ran towards the person. However instead of Milla, it was Kai. "It's you…" Norah acknowledges in disappointment.

"Nice to see you again Norah." Kai greets in a dry tone.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you actually, I heard you were looking for Milla, so I knew you would be here."

"She does like parks…" Norah admits underneath her breath.

"By the way, Milla is with Chan and some other girl back at the palace, either way that's not why I'm here…"

"Really, well I don't know if I should listen, I don't exactly appreciate when someone puts the blame on my best friend." Norah mockingly retorts.

"Can you just listen for one damn moment, I need you to do me a favor."

Norah crosses her arms in skepticism, waiting for the husky to continue.

Kai simply lean against the stone bridge's balustrade with his rifle leaning against the handle of the bridge juxtapositioned to the husky, "Your Móshù shī companion decided to talk to me in private, he admitted to working with Jai."

The panda girl goes into shock, she didn't believe what the husky had told her, she didn't know rather to burst into tears of disbelief or boil down into rage and anger, nonetheless she was happy to at least hear from her companion, even though it was through the husky's voice, "Vix." she simply states, not sure how to respond in any other way.

"Anyways, he claims that he never intended for everything to go like this, therefore he agreed to help me defeat Jai, under one condition. He wants me to team up with you guys again and to participate in the championship."

Norah remains silent, pondering on what she just heard.

"I'm not sure if I should trust him or not."

"I would."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Well, I hope so because what comes next is… sketchy."

Norah simply smiles, "It wouldn't be from Vix if it wasn't sketchy. I've always enjoyed how masochistic he can be."

"Batshit insane more like it. There's apparently something we need to steal something from the Shang Tu Palace."

"Is that so?"

"He was vague though, he said it was a _special type of energy crystal_."

"What affinity?"

"He said there's multiple, however he mentioned **FIRE** affinity specifically."

"I'll do it, not just because it's Vix's request, but also you owe me two thousand crystals afterwards."

"t-two thousand, like hell I'm giving you that kind of money!" Kai refuses.

"Fine you can steal this 'special' crystal yourself." Norah taunts.

"1000." Kai counters.

"1750." Norah persists.

"1500." Kai counters again, however the panda girl remained calm, this bothered the husky.

"I'm not going any lower than 1700, Kai." Norah informs.

Kai growls in frustration "Fine." he reluctantly submits.

"Hey, don't take it too seriously, you know very well you deserved it, besides it's business."

"You'll steal from me anyways…" Kai retorts walking away from the panda, expecting her to follow.

It takes Norah a few moments to notice what the husky had said, "W-wait! How do you know about that?!" she demands following the husky back to the Shang Tu Palace.

* * *

Meanwhile at the Red Scarves' HQ, Jai was in his usual post waiting for a couple of guests, _Hmph, it's amusing how Vix thinks he can devise a plan without me knowing, in fact I'm sure to expect him to ask for their aid, funny how that works, I'm actually quite curious now…_

 _I should kill Rob for his betrayal, but frankly that was predictable, also to assure that my second knight is under my control I should keep him alive, at least until the others are gone, also it would be quite amusing to see how far he would go to cover his tracks when I put him into a position where he have to fight against his own allies._

 _For now I have to rely on Hanna, Icarus is proving to be reckless, however the Red Scarves aren't my only allies, what I'm most interested to confirm is to see if Milla is worth my time, I already have my real goal in mind, but she would make it far easier for me to reach that goal…_

 _As a bargaining chip that is, especially after losing Spade._

The wyvern hears his doors open, he simply makes a smirk in response, "I'm glad you two made it, Rob Stiil and Hanna Skarlett."

"What's the big idea Jai?" Hanna demands.

"With all do respect, we were just helping everyone from what happened a couple days ago, I don't know what you have planned, but I'd rather not be kept in the dark." Rob continues.

 _So he is trying to cover his tracks_ , Jai turns towards both husband and wife, "Are you two busy for the next couple of weeks?"

"Not in particular." Hanna answers, "Why?"

"Simple, you two are going to participate in the Annual Avalician Martial Arts Championship."

"W-what?!" Rob responds.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Hanna objects.

"Everything have been accounted for, the other leaders agreed, and ironically you two are actually the lowest ranking members to be taking place in this tournament."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll be participating as well."

Both Hanna and Rob simple exchange looks towards one another in disbelief, however considering the situation they agree to Jai's terms.


	15. Intricate Planning

**-15-**

It was a nice breezy morning at the Shang Tu Palace. Norah, who had gotten a new pair of platinum bracelets for her **FIRE** crystals and new clothing similar to her previous attire, was calmly strolling down the halls. A week have passed since the panda girl and her friends agreed to participate at the annual championship. Continuing her way to the dining room, she notices Kai leaning against the wall across from the dining hall's entrance, which piques her interests. "Waiting for the doors to open?" Norah probes.

"I can tell you're probing," Kai opens, "Yes… We're a bit early, so what?"

"Fine, I'll just ask then, what did you do with that crystal I stole for you?" Norah demands, in an aloof tone.

"I put it to good use." Kai responds.

Norah becomes agitated, "What exactly does that mean?" she asks.

"It means it's fine."

"Look, I hope you're aware how well guarded that damned thing was, so don't give me that ambiguity crap." The panda growls with impatience as she grabs the husky by the collar of his jacket, pulling him first, before ramming him against the wall, "What did you do with that damn crystal!"

"Why should you care, I'm going to pay you, isn't that all you care for, you are a mercenary after all, I would asume that would be your prime directive." Kai counters, his tone remains as monotonic.

"Don't use my philosophy against me, although you're right, I have more than enough reason to understand that crystal must be something very important. I also have the right to know, Vix was my partner not yours."

"Perhaps, however if that's the case perhaps you should have more faith in me as you do with him?"

"Hmph, like you're the type to believe in faith." Norah retorts sarcastically, catching the husky's hypocrisy.

"Point taken.", Kai submits in an uninterested tone before the doors behind them opens, General Gong emerges from the doors, eating what both youths could describe as some sort of cake. It takes the general seconds to notice the panda girl gripping the husky's jacket by the collar; as a result Norah quickly lets go of Kai, before she could speak, the general instead responds, "Uh, what were you two doing?"

"Nothing. We were just waiting for food." Kai responds.

"Right… where's Milla and Chan?"

Norah hesitates to answer, because she didn't know the answer, Kai continues, "Training at the Shang Tu Park."

"Mhm." Gong gestures as he takes a bite of his cake.

"Out of curiosity what type of cake is that?"

"Uh…"

"For a general your bravado could be better, anyways… I'm not hungry anymore, so I'll leave you two… in fact why don't you two tell Milla and Chan that food is ready…" Kai explains as he begins to leave, however he quickly returns and enters the dining hall, "On second thought, I should at least grab something quick, oh and Gong don't eat too much of the cake, you're fat enough as is."

"Isn't he charming…" Gong retorts.

"He has a point."

"He's lucky I haven't arrested him yet…"

"I wouldn't have pegged you as the vindictive type."

"I'm not, I'm referring to his criminal record."

"I'm confident that just being associated with the Red Scarves is not worthy of arrest."

"I'm confident that your mother wouldn't appreciate your choice of business."

Norah remains silent with a sweat rolling on her face, suddenly Kai emerges from the dining hall with his breakfast at hand, he leaves without uttering a word.

"Relax, I'm more focused on the matter at hand, besides, I know that you at least have standards. It would be quite hypocritical of us to say we don't hire mercenaries ourselves." Gong assures, disregarding the husky who rudely passed him and Norah.

"Why would you tell me this?"

"How should I know, I was just thinking what the Royal Magister would say."

Norah makes a faint smile in response, "You should stick to ramming people with your shield, like I said, I'm not hungry anymore… we should see what Milla and Chan is doing."

"Agreed."

Both pandas leave the scene in search for the other youths.

* * *

Meanwhile Kai was walking down the silent halls as he eats his quick breakfast, remembering the exchange between Norah and Gong, that he had overheard, _How cheesy, oh well, I got what Vix told me to find… it wasn't that hard to discover what he was asking for was here, in fact Vix more or less implied that…_

The husky digs into his pockets, revealing what appeared to be a sort of ruby which shined brighter the closer he was to his destination.

 _I wonder what makes this so different…_

Kai arrives at the infirmary and observes the sleeping panda on one of the beds, all the husky could do is sigh in annoyance, scowling at Spade's pathetic state. _I wonder why you would even get in the way of Jai's attack, perhaps you actually cared for her… heh, how pathetic…_

Despite the husky's criticism of the panda, Kai snaps his tough, knowing why he was here, _I hope this won't be a mistake._

Kai slips the ruby-like crystal underneath Spade's pillow, then writes a letter explaining the situation to the cavy, when he wakes up, _Personally anyone could've been better for this, however for some reason he specifically requested for Spade to have that crystal…_

 _I mean logically it make sense, Spade now have the motive, however he's not exactly someone who follows instructions, I'd be lying if I said I don't do the same…_

"Aren't you a lucky bastard, don't screw this up." Kai finally warns, not particularly expecting an immediate response from Spade, however any slight movement would've worked fine for the canine. ultimately Kai would get nothing, "I must be going mad," he deducts, "I'm talking to someone who's asleep…"

The husky decides to spend hours in the nurse's quarters, sitting on a wooden bench, thinking. Not knowing what to do, Kai takes a short nap before being woken up by Milla's bark.

"Was that necessary?" Kai comments in an agitated voice, "What time is it?"

"It's time for us to go!" Milla alerts.

"Crap, you could've woken me up earlier."

"What are you doing here, Norah said you were busy doing something important!"

Kai gets up from the bench and continues, "I'm already done with that, I just took a nap because nothing was happening."

"Nap? You were sleeping for _hours_ , I wouldn't call that a nap…"

"Huh, I guess I haven't had much sleep, doesn't matter."

"You never get enough sleep, anyways we should get going!"

"Alright, give me a couple of minutes."

"Fine."

As Milla leave Kai to himself, the husky thinks more about next course of action, _I think it's best none of them know about this, sorry but that's one part of our agreement I refuse to follow._

* * *

"Alright, the airship is ready to go, I hope you youngsters haven't left anything behind." General Gong announces to the group of youths, behind the general was Neera Li and the Royal Magister as their airship was being prepared, "The Royal Magister has also decided to join you four on your trip back to Shang Mu, he have business with Mayor Zao and King Dail."

"Predictable." Kai states.

"It will be our honor, however I have one concern." Norah counters.

"Is that so?" Gong notices.

"With all due respect, it would be rather… strange to have someone as prominent with us, furthermore who would look over Shang Tu in the meantime?"

"General Gong and the other generals will do just fine, I'll be boarding the airship as well, looking over the Royal Magister." Neera explains.

Norah falls silent and enters the airship, indifferent, Milla apologizes for Kai and Norah's rude behavior as the other youths enters the airship, "I'm so sorry about my friends, we've been through alot this past week, we're just frustrated is all…"

"Don't be so hard on yourself Basset." The Royal Magister assures, "It's understandable why you would feel uncomfortable around someone such as myself, I assure you that I will not interfere with your daily endeavours, especially since you youths need to prepare for the tournament."

"No, I mean… Thank you." Milla replies with a traditional bow, before entering the airship with her allies.

"Neera."

"Yes your majesty?" Neera responds.

"Let's honor the promise we made to Basset."

"Y-you sure?"

"I know you wish to interact with your daughter, it's what every mother would want."

Neera remains silent.

"Though admittedly this is one child, who might need some more time to herself, and you could be…"

"...A pain in a neck." Gong continues.

"Err… you can be abrasive."

"...and paranoid."

"I GET IT!", Neera out bursts, scalding the panda general before sharply turning towards the Royal Magister and shifting her tone to a more softer and apologetic voice, "With all due respect of course your majesty."

"Let's enter this vessel shall we?" The Royal Magister suggests, disregarding the priestess' sudden tone.

"Alright." Neera submits.

"General Gong."

The general takes quick notice of the magister, "Yes your majesty?"

"I will intrust the safety of Shang Tu to you general, also remember to be very cautious, if what these youths say is true, it's only a matter of time before he makes his move…"

"You're that worried?"

"I have the right to be, these past few years have been the most eventful, I fear that everything is against our favor, so I'm putting my faith in you to keep everything in order."

"I will, safe travels."

"Good luck to you too general."

* * *

It took the airship about one day to reach the city of Shang Mu, the Royal Magister had already informed the youths that Mayor Zao and King Dail was warned about the recent activities of the Red Scarves and had instructed them to wait patiently for his arrival; the party agreed with this decision. Meanwhile they were making further preparations for the tournament; however to their dismay they had also discovered Charlotte inside the ship and convinced Neera to let her stay until they reached the city.

Now at Shang Mu, the Royal Magister began to speak to the youths for one last time, "This is where we part ways, I will be speaking with the other leaders about this situation, meanwhile you four head over to the registry located at the arena." he instructs.

"Thank you your majesty." Milla thanks.

"No need to thank me again, if all goes well, it should be I who will be thanking you."

"Quick question." Chan interrupts, "what about my younger sister?"

"Don't worry Fokussu, she'll be sa-" Neera starts before noticing that the young vixen was missing. The only natural response the panda could make was to facepalm in annoyance.

"I suppose she already found her own solution." Chan laughs, attempting to hide his worries.

"I hope she doesn't get in trouble…"

"She always is in trouble… though at least she have standards…"

"Touche"

"Now go, and be careful" Magister commands, however in a soft tone.

With that the four youths simply nod in agreement and hurry towards the tournament registrar. However as the youths approaches the arena, the crowds would get thicker and thicker, the citizens were preparing themselves for the tournament, after all the AAMAC is one of the biggest events in the three kingdoms, to them it was one of the few times the kingdoms can unite peacefully. The inclusion of new combat methods and new people from outside the origin kingdoms, however, had changed the competition completely, piquing the spectator's interests.

The crowds have gotten so thick that the youths agreed to split up and meet at the fighter's lounge. Now alone, Milla was making her way past the large crowd of people, some recognizes her however the tournament was their prime focus. For a brief moment the basset hound was more focused towards her surroundings as opposed to what was infront of her, as a result, she bumped into what appeared to be a cloaked woman, it takes Milla a moment to notice whom she bumped into.

"I'm so sorry!" Milla cries.

The woman simply smiles, "It's alright young one." the woman assures, "It's not everyday when a common person bumps into someone as prominent as yourself."

"I wouldn't say prominent…" Milla corrects modestly, trying to see the face of whom she's speaking with, all she could see is the woman's green face and hair of a similar hue, purple eyes and white horns; she seems older, however still fairly young, in fact she looked similar to someone the basset hound knew.

The woman simply nods to Milla in respect, "I do have one thing to say, though it may appear peculiar at first." she states before leaving the youth.

"What's that?"

"One who changes her destiny usually pays a price."

"W-what?" Milla asks, however the woman had already left, _Why does that saying affect me so much…_

 _One who changes her destiny usually pays a price…_


	16. Annual Avalician Martial Arts Tournament

**-16-**

Milla had arrived at what most locals refer to as the Shang Mu Battlesphere, as the name implied it was a round, almost spherical stadium, which was known for housing an assortment of battles featuring all types of warriors, although normally it would become exclusive to martial artists during the annual tournament. However, the sudden change of rules have pleased the other warriors, no longer would the title of champion would be exclusive for what most mages or marksmen would consider brutes. The arena was also known to have recently utilize the technology Brevon had unintentionally left behind for altering the environment the fighters would battle on. At the registry Milla was met with one guard, as she was instructed by the Royal Magister, she explains the situation to the security officer.

"Identification please." The guard demands.

Milla digs into her backpack, since she had yet to have received proper identification, the Royal Magister had given her a letter with his own signature granting her entry into the tournament. As she tries to find the letter she was given, she notices that very letter was missing and assumed that she had lost it when she bumped into that woman earlier.

"No identification, no entry."

"Couldn't you just make one exception, please." Milla pleads.

"Sorry, it's protocol. No entry for those without identification, this applies to you too Milla Basset."

"Oh, well then, if it isn't Milla Basset!" The hound hears a familiar voice, when she turns around, she sees a female red polar bear with red hair, fur and eyes alike, wearing a casual red and white long dress with a purse, "So you're going to be in the tournament?"

"Pliny! Yeah, but this guard won't let me through."

"Oh really? Don't you have identification?"

"Not really, the Royal Magister gave me a letter… but… I lost it…" Milla admits.

"Well can't do anything about it now."

"Yeah…"

"Why so depressed? I'm going to help out." Pliny proceeds to approach the guard, and explains the situation, "She's with me, so please let us pass."

"Who do you think you are?"

Pliny digs into her purse and reveals a document of some sort, when the guard reads the paper, his face grows pale, "As you can see, I was sent to check on the fighter by Mayor Zao, himself."

"Y-yes, both of you can proceed."

"Thank you."

Milla and Pliny was walking down the hall, and then find their way to the fighters lounge, "Thank you so much."

"It's all good, hey people like _us_ have to stick together." The Pliny's tone becomes serious for a moment.

"Right."

"Anyways, I'm also the MC, so there's that…"

"That's great! Considering what happened two years ago,"

"I told you just now, it's all good."

Milla nods in agreement, as they enter the large lounge with several curved benches wrapping around spots of foliage. The lounge had a great view of the stadium's arena and had several snack bars and training areas, the floor was waxed to the point that anyone could lick it as it gleamed brilliantly, the aroma of the room would smell so abnormally natural that it would please the basset hound. As the hound looks around she sees an arrangement of different competitors ranging from swordsmen to mages to marksmen to fighters and ninja, Milla thought about who her opponents were and they all looked tough. "Wow, everyone seem so serious about this, and most of them are… kinda older…"

"Don't worry. So hey! You likely know that this year we're dividing the tournament into twelve factions of four, and well… word has it that there was a sudden thirteenth faction that entered, was that you and your team by any chance?" Pliny whispers into the canine's ear.

"Uhm…"

"I figured, I'm just warning you because it seems that some of the people here aren't too happy about that, most of these guys worked long and hard… when they realize that the faction that was put in the last minute had one of the heroines of Avalice… well things might get a tad salty… so watch your back."

Milla simply remains silent.

"Anyways! Nice to see that all of you fighters are doing just fine, we have a special guest with us today, who happens to be one of your fellow competitors!" Pliny announces in an enthusiastic voice, catching the attention of the other 51 fighters.

Milla is caught off guard by Pliny sudden announcement, "W-w-w-w-wait! B-b-b-b-b-but you just said!"

Pliny quickly whispers into the hound's ear again, "Look they're going to connect the dots anyways, matter's well get it over with!"

Milla exasperated and embarrassed by the sudden exposure, frantically looks around, unsure what to say she simply raises her hand in a robotic motion, "H-h-hi?" she greets, more worried about the consequences than the exposure itself.

"Well, I'll be going now!" Pliny concludes as she slams the door behind Milla, only to open one more time to say one last time, "Play nice!" she adds, slamming the door just as loudly as before, resulting from Milla gasping from the sudden movement.

* * *

From utter embarrassment, Milla found her head down against one of the cafe tables, she had already met with her allies.

"Want some tea?" Norah offers.

"I'm such an idiot." Milla complains.

"So Pliny blew our spot. In her defense, she has a point." Chan reasons.

"I agree, they were going to find out nonetheless." Kai continues, "What matters is that we focus on our mission."

"Hey!" The group hear a sudden voice, and notices a tibetan wolf boy with red orange fur and white hair, wearing a beige and black gi with twin blades on his back, "Milla?"

"Who are you?" Chan asks, rather confused about how this boy knew Milla.

"Not the best time, Zhao." Kai warns.

"Zhao?!" Milla repeats as she shoots her head up words in shock, "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, Jie decided to have me participate and be part of the dojo's faction." Zhao explains.

"Good… for you!" Milla awkwardly speaks, showing the same amount of worry than before.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing!"

"Alright." Zhao responds, leaving the other youths to themselves.

"That guy is so clueless…" Norah comments

"Nononononononono, why did he have to be part of this, I don't want him to get hurt!" Milla panics, "Like, maybe I'm being a worry wart, it's not like he can't defend himself, I mean he's as much of a capable swordsman as Chan, not to mention he did well against Serpentine, but that was dumb luck and Jai is whole new level, what if he's paired against Jai…"

"Calm down, Milla! Calm down."

"So that's the guy you three was talking about, the boy with the dual swords, you seem awfully close to him, aren't you, Milla?" Chan observe.

"Chan!" Norah scalds before whispering to his ears, "Though to be fair, I'm having the same idea."

"Look, I'm sure Zhao can take care of himself, just focus." Kai advises.

"You're right! I just need to calm down."

Just as Milla says this, most of the fighters hears the crowds, "It seems the tournament is about to start! Let's give them a show!" one of the fighters shouts, sounding female and rather eccentric.

"Indeed, but remember that this is a combat tournament, not a broadway show." A young rodent warns in a respectful tone, he wore what appeared to be a typical Shuigang uniform, most knew him as the son to one of the three kingdom's best soldiers, who had recently been promoted to admiral. Unlike most high ranking soldiers who normally wore this uniform, it was colored silver instead of emerald green.

"I would listen to him, if I was you." Rob Stiil suddenly responds, much to wife's annoyance and Icarus', who had accompanied them, indifference. "Considering he is the son of a highly respected admiral."

The rodent took notice of the Red Scarf who had kindly supported his advice, "I expect no less from you, being a Red Scarf and all."

"Likewise, best of luck, Zhen Sheshou."

"Good luck."

As the rodent and lagomorph separate, the fighters focus their attention back at the stadium. The youth also focus their attention towards themselves, "Ah, Zhen Sheshou the young prodigy from Shuigang." Chan starts.

"I remember seeing him once too, he was actually kinda a nice guy." Norah compliments.

Rob proceeds towards the youths, this appeared to have caught the distant hawk's attention. "I just want to say good luck to you four as well." Rob opens.

Not sure what to say, the youths simply nod in agreement.

"Also Milla, I agree that what Pliny did to you was uncalled for, but knowing you and your friends, I'm sure that alone won't deter you, I want to see you give it your all. By the way don't mind my wife, she's always a hot head." The hare chuckles as he returns to his group.

"I wonder where's Jai…" Kai asks rhetorically.

"I don't care, either way we're here now, we matter's well make the most of it." Norah responds.

One of the organizers for the tournament appears from the lounge entrance and began her announcement, "The Annual Avalician Martial Arts Championship is about to begin, all competitors are to group into their appropriate factions and prepare themselves for when they're called into the battlesphere!"

With that all of the fighters did as the organizer had instructed them.

* * *

The crowds were cheering as loud as they can, for the first time in avalician history, both the origin and outer kingdoms unite and the wide variety of citizens eagerly await the reveal of their competitors. The people who migrated to Shang Mu to see the event first hand and those who sat comfortably at their homes watching the event on television anticipated the beginning of the event. Rumors about the changes done to the tournament had added more to their excitement, turns out this was true and this adds new possibilities for challenges and ways the appease the crowd.

At the north-most point of the circular arena, emerging from the balcony of the large building, was the Royal Magister, with him was Mayor Zao, King Dail, as well as Tuanjie Jilu and Empress Yazmine. The crowd roared as loud as they could at the sight of the leaders, some were indifferent and others refused to show them any recognition; Dail and Yazmine were mildly overwhelmed by the intense cheering, "I never thought people would cheer for me after what happened two years ago." Dail muses.

"Eh, I'm just… I don't know how to explain the feeling." Yazmine starts.

"Perhaps apprehension."

"Perhaps."

"I'm glad you two are conversing, it pleases me that two leaders. whose kingdom's history with each other is riddled with violence, is talking to one another peacefully." Tuanjie responds, overhearing the conversation between both pandas.

"But both of you shut it, the Royal Magister is about the speak." Zao rudely interrupts.

The four leaders grows quiet as the fifth calms the crowd first, " _I thank all of you for coming here today, for this is one of the few times that we as the three kingdoms can peacefully unite, without any need for spies, soldiers, or diplomats, but as common and wealthy people alike."_

The crowd becomes completely silent.

" _However, at this moment it's not just the three kingdoms, or as some of you may refer to, as the origin kingdoms, instead we are proud to have our new allies, who may help us through these harsh times._ "

Meanwhile the fighters was at their positions, Milla's heart sank, she wasn't worried about the crowd who will be watching her, no, she thought of the possibility of Lilac and Carol watching her, she wonder how they would react to how much she had grown. This was no time to worry.

" _With that said, it is at this very moment we commence our Bicentennial Annual Avalician Martial Arts Champion, where champions, heroes and warrior unite to spar, not in the name of war but for the sake of peace._ "

Milla looks around and see her friends determined for what is ahead of them, for a moment she felt alone.

" _Now! Introducing these champions, heroes and warriors who had came from across the Three Kingdoms, the Qin Empire and Araiansu Clans alike, please give them the utmost respect you can bestow upon them."_

One by one, the contestants began walking into the arena,as the crowds cheered for them, this made Milla more and more anxious; however she notices her allies reassuring faces, as though they knew of her worries.

The youths were the last ones to emerge, and as she follows her friends into the battleshpere, she made a deep breath, gathering all the courage she could and walks towards the blinding light, unaware of what awaits her.


End file.
